The plan

During the first two weeks of my trip, I will participate in an Earthwatch-sponsored archaeological dig, unearthing artifacts at the Arbeia Roman Fort & Museum in South Shields. The two-week expedition, “Fort Arbeia and the Roman Empire in Britain,” will provide me, untrained in the science of archaeology, with the rare opportunity to use authentic processes alongside Tyne & Wear Museums’ archaeological team. Arbeia, a permanent excavation site, which lies within the UNESCO Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site, is the location of a Roman military and civilian settlement that guarded the mouth of the River Tyne, which opens to the North Sea. I will assist with mapping the site, excavating, recording site data, and processing finds, including jewelry, armor, and ceramics.

The second half of my trip, will allow for me to establish relationships with educators who utilize object-based teaching and learning on a regular basis and who have created observation protocols and curriculum to backstop their work. I will visit selected historical sites and meet with museum education staff at several of them. I have identified professionals at Arbeia, the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums at Oxford University, the Verulamium Museum in the Roman city of St Albans, and the British Museum in London, and have scheduled meetings with them. With their assistance, I hope to reach out to local educators who use the museums’ curriculum and support materials, as well as those they have developed themselves, aimed at teaching object-based lessons. The British are leaders in object-based teaching and related curriculum development. I plan to take my deeper understanding that I will come away with from my meetings with them and use it in my teaching immediately.  

In addition to the museum stops mentioned, we will also hike a portion of Hadrian's Wall and visit York, Bath, Hastings and Dover.