Thinking Like an Archaeologist: Raising Awareness of Cultural Heritage Through the Use of Archaeology and Artefacts in Education

Abstract

This research is based on a qualitative descriptive study of students’ responses to an educational and archaeological project developed in a secondary school in Cartagena, Spain, from 2012 to the present. It aims to analyse instructional experiences that include secondary school students as active agents in the history teaching and learning process. To achieve that aim, an archaeological site was recreated in the schoolyard and a series of activities were designed to introduce teenagers to the interdisciplinary processes of archaeological methodology. The analysis of this experience showed that working with archaeological evidence promotes the construction of historical thinking and reasoning through the analysis of artefacts. Similarly, the development of an archaeological methodology leads students to launch inquiries and construct hypotheses based on them. This lets students gain knowledge about history and historical processes, as well as take part in its construction in an active and reflective way. Students also learn the importance of preserving archaeological heritage as they assess its value as a source of knowledge. The outcomes of the project are presented here, and compared with results from similar initiatives at different educational levels and contexts. It is argued that the introduction of archaeological methodology in educational settings proves to be a valuable and effective resource.