Who is an archeologist? · Who is an archeologist? Description of the activity The experiment took place in Tallinn's "Asunduse" kindergarten of pre-schoolers, where the age ranged

Who is an archeologist?

Description of the activity

The experiment took place in Tallinn's "Asunduse" kindergarten of pre-schoolers, where

the age ranged from 5-7 years.

The conductors of the test were the teachers Eneli & Kristel. In total there were 12

children, 7 of them being boys and 5 girls.

Means used on the research experiment: Pictures, that children googled. Search word

“arheoloog (archeologist)”, different books about occupations (3 of 8 books had

information about archeologist).

Used literatura:

Wheatley, A.; Arheoloogia; [2006]; Estonia

Holl, P.; Elukutsete ja ametite maailm; [2011]; Estonia

Saluste, M.; Kõik tööd on head; [2016]; Estonia

All discussions during the project were based on using Socratic method. Socratic

method means Teachers asked children a progression of seemingly innocent questions

that ultimately led the respondent to a logical conclusion that was incompatible with

that children's originally stated belief.

In total it took 24 hours including: preparation, acquiring the supplies, research,

excecuting the experiment, children drawing pictures regarding the experiment,

conclusion.

Purpose of the research

Purpose of the research project was to find out who is archeologist.

Elaboration and preparation of the research activities

First teachers studied the topic. Teachers made notes, consulted with each other,

planned activities, looked for the necessary means and made the order to go through the

planned activities.

One day before the experiment, the teachers asked the children what they think who is

archeologist- how does he/she looks, what kind of job he/she has. Teachers asked

children to draw a picture of that.

On the experiment day teachers went to the classroom of the group earlier to put out all

the needed means and to awaken an interest in starting activities with children.

Children had not heard about archeologist before. Some children thought archeologist is

doing something similar like police.

Description of the methodology used

Beginning in the 1970s, Novak and his research team at Cornell developed the

technique of concept mapping as a means of representing the emerging science

knowledge of students. It has subsequently been used as a tool to increase meaningful

learning in the sciences and other subjects as well as to represent the expert knowledge

of individuals and teams in education, government and business.

Ausubel's believed that learning of new knowledge relies on what is already known.

That is, construction of knowledge begins with our observation and recognition of

events and objects through concepts we already have. We learn by constructing a

network of concepts and adding to them. Ausubel also stresses the importance of

reception rather than discovery learning, and meaningful rather than rote learning.

The Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI)

1. Observation. Discussion on the topic “Who is an archeologist?”

Children: “Maybe a doctor.”, “Police man.” , “Fireman” , “He is the one who is looking

for dinosaur bones.”, “Human.” , “Maybe they are school teachers.” , “But who builds

pyramides?” , “Such a person who saves other people. “, “It is a machine, where you

could put in some cats and when they cameo ut, they are soil.”

2. Experimentation.

One child with his friend uses computer and tries to google who is archeologist. They

talk to others what they found out.

3. Summarization of the results as laws

• Archaeology is the scientific study of human life by looking at artifacts, at the

man-made objects that people who lived long ago have left behind.

• Archaeologists study human history, from the development of the first stone

tools millions years ago up until recent decades.

• Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture

history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes

in human societies through time.

• The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data

collected to learn more about the past.

• An archeologist can be both- a man or a woman.

• An archaeologist does not investigate dinosaurs.

4. Hypothesis

“He/she studies different things to get to know something. About earth and people’s

history.”

5. Testing the hypothesis in the lab

Children got many books about different occupations and they had to find out who is

archeologist.

6. Explanation provided by the hypothesis

“Archeologist is like dedective.”, “He/She studies a lot.” , “He/she studies a

landscape.”, “A women also can do this job.”, “They study our history.”, “They are

readying a lot of books.” , “They know what happend when we were not born yet.”

Final assessment of the activity

To final assessment of the activity children had to ask their parents about archeologists.

One day after we made the experiment, the teachers asked the children who is an

archeologist and what kind of job he/she has. Teachers asked children to draw a picture

of that.

All together there were 7 children who were in the kindergarten all 3 days (on 1. day

children draw a picture before they knew anything, on the 2. day children took part of

the experiment, on the 3. day children draw a picture with new knowledge of the topic).

7 children of 7 draw an archeologist doing their jobs (doing research, finding

something). All 7 children understood, that archeologist does not search for dinosaurs.

Two children said that the person on their picture is a women. One girl first thought that

an archeologist is a women, but later she draw a man on her picture.