Mortimer Wheeler, Lewis Binford, Ian Hodder ...
and you: Active learning in Archaeology

In an age of populism and celebrity culture our approach to teaching archaeological theory and method directs entrenched (and often unconscious) social and behavioural attitudes towards the analysis of a specific object, the 'celebritised' archaeologist.

Harnessing students' curiosity and channelling their ability to learn effectively is nowhere more important than in teaching theoretical topics; those that are too often caricatured as disconnected from the real world of archaeological experience. This approach articulates with the educational philosophy known as 'active learning', which has received much attention in disciplines such as psychology, political science, and geography. This paper outlines active learning strategies that used to increase the effectiveness of teaching archaeological theory and method, a competent understanding of which is essential to well conducted public archaeology. The basic notion behind active learning is that student understanding is increased through engaging in 'fun' activities that reinforce the information being presented, especially when this is tied to previously acquired concepts. Through a range of inter-active instructional strategies based around the theme of 'becoming' a professional archaeologist, including archaeological action figures, trading cards and a character-based role play, we aim to make students aware of the limited and provisional nature of archaeological knowledge, facilitate different styles of learning, and provide some sense of the panorama that is archaeology. As students have more 'fun' they become more motivated, engage more effectively with the material and increase their learning. The processes outlined here can easily be transferred to teaching the theories and methods of other disciplines.