An Authentic Learning Experience

Using the Artifact Bag activity can help students develop problem solving and critical thinking skills. It allows young students to draw connections between items that they know nothing about. Also, as young Social Studies learners, it is very important for students to become historians. This activity gives students the opportunity investigate and develop a better understanding of a specific culture or time period.

Some tips for implementing the Artifact Bag activity are:

1. Provide support, guidance and instruction to help develop the students' skills
2. It is important to activate the students' prior knowledge on the topic and guide the students to make connections between what they know and what they are going to be learning. 
3. The teacher should model higher levels of thinking for his or her students to follow.
4. Include authentic items in the artifact bag. This will create a more "real" experience for the students. 
5. Make sure that the activity is hands-on and actively engaging the students. 
6. Provide students with the necessary materials and guides to summarize their findings throughout the activity. 

Artifacts can be used in a classroom to create an authentic, personal learning experience for students. Teachers should be sure to include various ways in which the students can draw connections to the artifacts, and also make predictions and summarize their findings. Some suggestions for implementing the artifact bag activity include scaffolding instruction, activating prior knowledge, and modeling. Also, it is important for the teacher to prompt students' predictions and questions in order for them to gain knowledge from the experience. Having the teacher as a guide for learning may help many students reach their potential, with a little assistance. Another suggestion for the artifact bag activity is to incorporate other content areas in the lesson. By integrating literacy, reading, and writing into the lesson, the students will gain more from the activity than just an understanding on what an artifact is and some of the things it can tell us. Here is a link to my Wordle that contains several phrases and strategies on how teachers can carry out the artifact bag activity.