Artifacts in the Elementary
School Classroom
What
are artifacts?
“Artifacts are commonly referred to as manmade objects
or realia. . . . objects from the material, educational, or artistic culture of
a society” (Field 141).
Why
use artifacts in teaching?
- Increase
students’ interest and curiosity in content areas
- Make
learning concrete and relevant
- Enhance
understanding of textbooks and children’s books
- Stimulate
classroom discussions and make them more meaningful
- Provide
a way to motivate and challenge students
- Foster
creative and critical thinking
- Make
children active rather than passive learners
- Set
the stage for inquiry and investigation
What
are some examples of artifacts?
- Recipes
or foods
- Timeline/chronology
of a book’s events
- Chronology
of World History.Ref. D11 .M39 1999 (Many other
chronologies are also available in the 1st floor Reference
collection).
- DK
Visual Timeline of the 20th Century.Curric.
909.8 A217d
- Important
Dates in Afro-American History.Curric.
301.451 H794i
- Julian
Messner Young Readers’ Guide to Dates & Events.Curric.
902 H551j
- Maps,
including historical maps
- Floor
plans
- Songs
or sheet music
- Old
photographs
- Advertisements
or price lists of a particular historical period
- Facsimiles
of diaries, letters, legal documents (birth certificates, deeds, marriage
licenses), and other primary source documents
- Old
magazine and newspaper articles
- Period
clothing
- Paintings,
drawings, and other artwork
- Household
utensils and tools
- Weapons
- Writing
tools
- Samples
of paper money and coins
- Toys
- Posters,
prints, political cartoons, tickets, bills, receipts, postcards,
invitations, and other memorabilia
- Old
flags
- Historical
books and textbooks
- Magazines
and newspapers from the period (some may need to be printed from microfilm)
- Books
about the cultural life of a certain place and period; for example, The
Cultural Life of the American Colonies.Search WebPALS for your historical period and then add “social
life and customs.”
- Cobblestone,
an American history magazine for children, has many pictures that could be
scanned.Check the index
entitled Children’s Magazine Guide for other children’s
magazines.(If you wish to scan
any of these, ask for permission from a Librarian to check them out).
- Historical
textbooks that children of the past would have used in school.The Library has a collection dating back to 1806.Ask a librarian for assistance in using this collection.
- Curriculum
Kit 909 J12, entitled Jackdaws, has reproductions of primary
documents from various historical periods.
- Also
browse in the Curriculum Center kits, games, etc. section from 900-999 for
other materials that may be used as artifacts.
- Children’s
books by Edwin Tunis and other authors contain many pictures depicting life
in historical times.
- Sears
Roebuck Catalogue.The
Library has a reproduction of the 1897 catalog.
- Published
diaries, journals, and letters.
- Historical
atlases, available both in the curriculum and general reference collections.
- Local
museums and archives.
- Search
Google by doing an advanced image search under your topic.
- Search
your grandparents’ attic.
Dowd,
Frances Smardo.“What’s a
Jackdaw Doing in Our Classroom?”Childhood
Education 66.4 (1990): 228-31.
Field,
Sherry, Linda D. Labbo, Ron W. Wilhelm, and Alan W. Garrett.“To Touch, to Feel, to See: Artifact Inquiry in the Social Studies
Classroom.”Social Education 60.3
(1996): 141-43.
Hatcher,
Barbara A.“History in My
Hand—Making Artifact Kids in the Intermediate Grades.”Social Studies 83 (1992): 267-271.
Labbo,
Linda D., and Sherry L. Field.“Journey
Boxes: Telling the Story of Place, Time, and Culture with Photographs,
Literature, and Artifacts.”Social
Studies 90.4 (1999): 177-82.
Morris,
Ronald Vaughan.“Teaching Social
Studies with Artifacts.”Social
Studies 91.1 (2000): 32-37.
---.“Using Artifacts as a Springboard to Literacy.”Social Studies and the Young Learner 10.4 (1998): 14-17.