Lesson: Many Viewpoints: Object-based Learning for the Global Classroom

Source: Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

Created by: Learning Programs Department, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Subjects: Language Arts, Social Studies

Grade Levels: 6-12

View or download this Lesson Plan

Overview: This lesson promotes a partnership between the Penn Museum and middle/high school educators by offering an opportunity to utilize the Penn Museum’s world-class collections for global learning. Artifacts on display in the Penn Museum galleries represent diverse ancient civilizations and modern cultures. The lesson aims to develop students’ capacity for embodying different perspectives by encouraging students to explore their observations of cultural objects through prompted questions. In this exercise, themes of cultural heritage and identity are highlighted through material culture—the material things that surround us on a daily basis, the things we choose to represent ourselves, our heritage, and our understandings—the things that make us both similar and unique.

Note: This lesson is for use within the galleries of the Penn Museum but could be modified for use in other museums.

http://www.penn.museum/on-display.html

Objectives: Students will be able to engage with object-based inquiry processes by using cultural artifacts on display at the Penn Museum, engage with culture as dynamic, rather than static, develop global competencies of recognizing and respecting multiple perspectives through cultural object analysis, communicate differing interpretations and meanings of cultural heritage from multiple standpoints.

The Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit

This lesson is one of 29 lessons (K-12, all subjects) in the Philadelphia World Heritage Tool Kit. The goal of the Tool Kit is to help educators and their students develop a transnational analysis in their classrooms by using complex themes of world heritage as a framework to understand global regions across disciplines. These themes include shared architectural, cultural, economic, environmental, political, recreational, religious, and social heritage features.  Real teachers created these lessons and based their work on “best practices” that reflect student collaboration and the broad goals of young people in ways that support care and understanding of others who may be very different in background and history.