Archaeology can enliven a classroom lesson in almost any subject, from Art to Zoology. We encourage you to try some of these archaeology lessons with your students and to let us know how they work for you.

Society for American Archaeology

• Teaching Archaeology: A Sampler for Grades 3-12. Background information, glossary, and four sample lessons from the SAA Public Education Committee.
• Archaeology and Public Education Newsletter: Lesson plans and lesson ideas originally published in the Newsletter’s Education Station.

Project Archaeology

Intrigue of the Past: A Teacher’s Activity Guide for Fourth through Seventh Grades.
Twenty-eight classroom tested lessons that use archaeology to teach science, math, history, social studies, art, language arts, and higher level thinking skills such as problem solving, synthesis, and evaluation.

National Park Service

Teaching With Historic Places: On-line lesson plans that use historic sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places to explore American history. For middle and high school history, social studies, and geography. Lessons can be adapted from upper elementary through high school. Each lesson includes maps, readings and photographs.

Alexandria Archaeology

Archaeologists At Work: A Teacher's Guide To Classroom Archaeology uses historic artifacts in classroom activities and lessons, offers historic archaeology case studies, includes a glossary, and resource lists. Print only. Order from the Alexandria Archaeology Museum.

Simon Fraser University

Doing Archaeology in the Classroom: A Sandbox Dig
In addition to instructions for constructing and excavating a sandbox dig, these lessons stress the importance of site preservation, ethics, analysis, and interpretation in archaeology.

Smithsonian Institution, Department of Anthropology Outreach

• Archaeology in the Classroom: Comparative Garbage Exercise (grades 4 – 12) & Sandbox Activity: Creating and Digging An Archaeological Site (K-8)
• Exploring Historic Cemeteries
• Random Strategies in Archaeology
• Relative Dating in Archaeology

Smithsonian Institution, Office of Education

• Decoding the Past:The Work of Archaeologists, grades 3-8.
• Teaching From Objects and Stories: Learning about the Bering Sea Eskimo People. Grades 3-8, includes three lesson plans and additional resources.

Archaeological Institute of America

Cargoes from Three Continents: Ancient Mediterranean Trade in Modern Archaeology. Teaching plans and resources developed by educators participating in an Archaeological Institute of America summer teacher’s institute.

The Archaeology Channel – Teacher Resources

Their website includes links to many other websites that feature archaeology lesson plans including Discovery Channel, National Geographic Society, the New York Times, PBS, Houghton Mifflin, and many more.

dig! the archaeology magazine for kids

Teacher’s Guides for archaeology theme issues of the magazine dig! are available from Cobblestone Publishers