Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Virtual Field Trip to Analyze the Olmec Civilization

What if the history of African people in the Americas did not begin a few hundred years ago with their enslavement? 

What if, instead, it began thousands of years prior with their empowerment as great leaders and members of highly-advanced ancient civilizations? 

What if we have more in common with each other, sharing a deeper ancient history in this part of the world, than is traditionally taught?

And how would we ever know this, much less teach our children about it, if our textbooks fail to mention it?

My teaching teammate and I encountered this challenge a few years ago as we set out to design an integrated unit about the Maya people of Mesoamerica.  As we researched this civilization, we discovered that they weren’t the first advanced people in the region.  There was actually an older civilization that existed before they did.  This civilization, the Olmec civilization, was so influential that it is known as the Mother Culture of Mesoamerica

We searched for resources to teach our students about the Olmec, but they were sparse.  This led us to apply for, and be awarded, a grant to travel to México so we could research the Olmec and Maya and gather primary sources we could bring back to our classroom.
 
Based on our excursion, we created a virtual field trip to Veracruz, México, where our students would encounter and analyze artifacts left by the Olmec.  The unit begins with a video of us walking through the museum of La Venta.  We make it appear that we are trudging through the subtropical forests of eastern México and encountering a gigantic stone head (a classic Olmec artifact) at the end of our path.  We ask students to think like archaeologists and engage in collaborative discussions about the features of this artifact.  They generate a list of characteristics and begin to make conjectures and record guiding questions for the rest of the unit.

The facial features of these Olmec heads are unmistakably African and Asian.  This is fascinating to students, who have traditional worldviews of what they think Mexican people look like.  We take this opportunity to discuss the diversity of people living in México today, and to observe the diversity of our own classroom.  The Olmec heads help our students understand our common ancient history, and they begin to make cross-cultural, multi-racial connections.

Once we pique students’ interest in learning more about this mysterious civilization, we engage them in cooperative learning groups where they analyze the pictures we took of several Olmec artifacts found at La Venta and other museums in the region.  Again, they make observations, generate questions, and make conjectures about what we might be able to infer about the Olmec based on their artifacts. 

We then highlight specific Olmec symbols and their meanings, using materials from the de Young Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and teach the students how to reanalyze the artifacts with the specific purpose of looking for these symbols.  They apply their understanding of iconography by designing their own “Olmec” artifact and writing an expository paragraph to explain the meaning behind their artifact.  We display the pictures of these artifacts in the classroom as part of a mock archaeological dig called the “Olmec Art-ifact” wall.

This investigation serves as a wonderful launch to a more thorough investigation of the Mayan civilization.  Equipped with background knowledge about how to think like archaeologists, our students are able to analyze Mayan artifacts and structures.   They also use their critical thinking skills to make conjectures about the rise and fall of the Mayan city-states.  Because there is a wealth of written materials and primary sources with which to teach about the Maya people, we are able to integrate social studies, language arts, math and science into this unit.

Beginning with an experiential investigation, based on a virtual field trip to this region, students are inspired to make new connections and to deepen their understanding of thousands of years of human history.  With their blend of various racial characteristics and their location in Mesoamerica, the Olmec are a fascinating way for students of all races and ethnicities to see themselves reflected in their learning.  The Olmec also taught me that when traditional textbooks do not provide the learning experiences that students will find compelling, it is up to us to find creative ways to design them.