Hello 779k readers! I have a brainstorming request that i hope doesn't violate the rule against "examples of ____" posts....
I teach a survey, year long college preparatory world history course in a public high school. I'm always looking for ways to make the class more accessible and more thought-provoking for that "eh I'm not so into history" student - of which there are plenty. Just this week I attended a Professional Development session led by the local regional historical society. The focus was on using objects to introduce a theme or concept. The idea was, if you give a student a primary source reading, an image, an anecdote, or some other more traditional introduction to a culture or time period, then you will only reach those students that are already intrinsically interested in History. However, by letting students investigate an artifact from the past hands-on, you are more likely to catch a student's attention and thereby make the things you tell them about that time or people more meaningful and memorable.
Obvoiusly this is a good idea, and it definitely seemed to work in the facilitator's example. After breaking us into groups of 4 or 5, she gave each of us a large wood / metal object, sort of akin to a paper towel holder, but much older, heavier, and more industrial/mechanical looking. Our task was simple - look at the object, ask questions of it, investigate it...all to the end of figuring out what it is, and why it might have been important to the people that used it.
You can probably imagine how it went...after ten or so minutes of discussing and taking notes in our groups, the facilitator led us in a whole class discussion, in which she slowly revealed the actual purpose of the object - in this case, a bobbin from some type of early 20th century bobbin from a mechanical spinning or weaving device.
I immediately thought that this could be a way to add something new and engaging to my world history course. The big problem is that, while it's easy to go find an object from the 20th century to detail American history, i would have considerably more difficulty going out and finding a class set of, say, tools from 12th century China. So that is why I've come to you...I am wondering if anyone has any ideas of something I could use to introduce the many cultures and time periods i will be discussing in my course, specifically the ancient and early modern periods in World History, as I think these will naturally be the most distant and unimaginable to my tweeting, snapchatting students. I'm especially interested in things that are, like the bobbin, somewhat mysterious. If an object is instantly recognizable as to its function and significance, then that doesn't really spark much in the way of discussion.
At the same time, I'm hoping to come up with objects that I could either purchase or create relatively cheaply and easily (since I will need several similar objects for each class period devoted to these lessons and discussions). Some ideas I've already had are:
annnnnnd that's as far as I got. as you can see, an object can be almost the quintessential artefact of a people, such as the stones from the athenian ekklessia...or they can be quirky "feelies" like the toilet sticks. either type can be extremely powerful in telling the story of a people. any and all ideas are appreciated!
Well, as a medievalist, I am ethically obligated to begin by saying that no activity I could ever dream up would get my students as excited about history/the Middle Ages as borrowing a (high-quality) replica sword and allowing them, one at a time, the chance to stand in front of the classroom and give a couple of practice hefts. That said, here are a couple of things that came to mind.
Build an astrolabe: You can find instructions and templates online to make construction-paper or posterboard (preferable) astrolabes, the navigation instrument. It's a little different than the activity you had in mind, but it's hands-on and something they can engage with practically.
Wax tablets: For quick writing and rough drafts and things, classical and medieval Europeans used wax tablets--hinged wooden slabs almost like a very shallow box, where wax would be spread into each half and then carved on with a stylus. These would surely be quick to make or to con a friend with a wood shop into making. You wouldn't need the wax--just the hinged wooden book/box/thing and maybe a stylus, and see if they can figure out the missing component, maybe?
Contact the State Archaeologist. A lot of times, they'll have a bunch of artifacts they bring around to show kids.
Junk stores are great for super weird stuff that require research to identify.
For ancient history, talk with the math teacher on your team. Work out how to take the kids outside and have them figure out how to measure the sizes of ancient monuments. How big is the pyramid? How so you measure that?
Engage in some experimental archaeology. Hugh Hunt at Cambridge does this with WW1 and 2 technology with hilarious and reproducable results. There have been similar experiments with Egyptian, Greek, and other ancient engineering projects that could be interesting to reproduce.
I don't know if the computer game Fungawiland is still a thing, but it goes into archaeological theory and practice, and helps explain how we figure out what we know.
Last, teach against the narrative. When you can, talk about events from the other side's point of view (Parthia and Gaul's views of their wars with Rome, etc).
Good luck!
When my class was learning about Ancient Egypt we mummified hot dogs. It was a lot of fun and helped us learn the science behind it but heads up the smell will haunt you for years to come so do it during open window weather. Seven years later and I can still imagine the smell. You can look up easy tutorials online.
I love having a sense that the people of the past are similar to us, with the same interests and desires, just expressed differently. For example, women's diaries from Heian era Japan (1000ish years ago) are full of them whining about not seeing their boyfriends, gossiping about their friends, talking about their new dresses, what songs they like, showing off how cool and smart they are. The diaries are easily available in translation, and wonderfully evocative.
Game pieces and boards are often quite mysterious. Look up The Royal Game of Ur or ancient Egyptian sennet aka Hounds & Jackals. Knucklebones and cards are too easy, but represent fortunes lost down the centuries. You might introduce the repro Early Modern cards and genuine astragala after the boards. Have the library ILL you The Board Game Book.
I've had good results with my own kids and their friends with a scale-model trebuchet. Well within my own bodge-it-and-call-it-done woodworking skills and designs are easily found online. The one I built stood about waist high, the counterweight bucket filled with diving weights I borrowed off a sub-aqua friend, and we spent a couple of weekends experimenting with it and going over accounts of their use in siege warfare, along with all of the principles of applied mathematics and cut-and-try engineering that goes into building the machine and 'tuning' it for best results.
Having a helpful dog to fetch the ammunition back after each shot was a bonus :)
There used to be kits of parts for making desktop trebuchets as well, which might be more suited to indoor use.
If you can get hold of something like Landels' Engineering In The Ancient World there are several good accounts, with primary-source references, of things that can be readily demonstrated with scale models that can be hacked together in an afternoon by most DIY-grade woodworkers.
A second suggestion, of a tiny machine vital to civilization across the world for thousands of years. It looks like a stick put thru the middle of a disc. Until the invention of the spinning wheel in India c.1200 IIRC, pretty much all threads and yarns, whether for linen sails or silken robes, was produced using these drop spindles in different sizes (a few cultures used "hand spindles" turned in the hand with wrist action). If you don't put thread on it, like they didn't on those bobbins they gave you, the hook at one end might make people think they're some sort of weight to hang on a line. It's not obvious.
I would suggest looking up some world/regional maps that are relevant to the location and time period. I personally find old maps super interesting, and they are definitely easily copied onto paper.