Posted 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012
[caption id="attachment_10206" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Teachers participate in archeological site excavations and more during National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes for Teachers."]
[/caption]The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center was recognized by U.S. Department of the Interior for its work with Project Archaeology, a national partnership that encourages teachers to include archaeology in their classrooms. Project Archaeology won the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Partners in Conservation Award in 2011. MVAC has coordinated Project Archaeology in Wisconsin since 1994.
“Project Archaeology is a great vehicle for sharing information about the past with teachers, students and the public,” says Bonnie Jancik, MVAC director of Public Education. “If the public is more aware of the archaeological resources in their area, they are more likely to protect them.”
Project Archaeology is a national partnership through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that has provided quality education material to more than 10,000 teachers since is inception in 1990. The mission of Project Archaeology is to use archaeological inquiry to foster understanding of cultures; improve social studies and science education; and enhance citizenship education to help preserve archaeological legacy.
For 30 years the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center has been offering public field schools, training K-12 teachers, and helping people become aware of the area’s archaeological resources. Working with teachers has always been a high priority for MVAC because impacting one teacher has the potential to influence thousands of students and a future generation, says Jancik.
An example of MVAC’s teacher training that employs Project Archaeology is the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes for Teachers that MVAC has offered for the past several years. Teachers from across the country spend three weeks at UW-L exploring how archaeologists work and what they have discovered about the area. Project Archaeology materials and coordinators serve as resources as participants design ways to include the institute’s content in their own classrooms.
[/caption]The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center was recognized by U.S. Department of the Interior for its work with Project Archaeology, a national partnership that encourages teachers to include archaeology in their classrooms. Project Archaeology won the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Partners in Conservation Award in 2011. MVAC has coordinated Project Archaeology in Wisconsin since 1994.
“Project Archaeology is a great vehicle for sharing information about the past with teachers, students and the public,” says Bonnie Jancik, MVAC director of Public Education. “If the public is more aware of the archaeological resources in their area, they are more likely to protect them.”
Project Archaeology is a national partnership through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that has provided quality education material to more than 10,000 teachers since is inception in 1990. The mission of Project Archaeology is to use archaeological inquiry to foster understanding of cultures; improve social studies and science education; and enhance citizenship education to help preserve archaeological legacy.
For 30 years the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center has been offering public field schools, training K-12 teachers, and helping people become aware of the area’s archaeological resources. Working with teachers has always been a high priority for MVAC because impacting one teacher has the potential to influence thousands of students and a future generation, says Jancik.
An example of MVAC’s teacher training that employs Project Archaeology is the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes for Teachers that MVAC has offered for the past several years. Teachers from across the country spend three weeks at UW-L exploring how archaeologists work and what they have discovered about the area. Project Archaeology materials and coordinators serve as resources as participants design ways to include the institute’s content in their own classrooms.