Scaffolding Problem Sets to Integrate Practice and Cement Understanding

Herckis, L.

Understanding the Ancient World introduces students to the core method and theory of archaeological practice over the course of a six-week mini, employing scaffolded problem sets to introduce, contextualize, and detail the relevance of newly introduced methods and theories each week. Scaffolded problem sets require students to 1. Identify opportunities to apply new concepts; 2. Apply and practice skills introduced in previous weeks; and 3. Identify and describe the relevance of novel concepts and skills in relation to methodological approaches and bodies of theory introduced previously. As students work through problems, they incrementally discover a relatable real-world scenario. Once completed, this corpus of problem sets demonstrates the interplay between the various methods and theories introduced in the class, and highlights the power of archaeological approaches to produce complex social understandings through the analysis of limited material and spatial datasets. This method could be adapted for a variety of instructional contexts and sample materials will be shared.

Lauren Herckis, Simon Initiative