This BLOG entry is in response to an e-mail from the Netherlands.
We have worked with archaeology programs for pre-university students since 1996. HERITAGE EDCATION PROGRAMS has programs at three 
California sites: the Grove School, in Redlands; The Lewis Center, in Apple Valley; and La Sierra University, in Riverside, Our most recent program is with the Outdoor Education & Science Experience (OESE) in Cedar Glen near Lake Arrowhead.
OESE (http://flroutdoorscience.com/) is an outdoor education camp in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Schools bring about 100 students at a time for a three to five day program. Most of the students are in 6th grade (11 to 12 years old) though they can be as young as third grade. Adding archaeology to their program provides the students with a look at how the cultural environment is studied, in addition to studying the natural environment. The program follows the same pattern we use at our other sites inApple Valley,Redlands, andRiverside.
The two most important we are concepts we teach is that of archaeological context and that “It’s not about what you find but what you find out.”1 The concept of archeological context is our starting point. All of what we teach is based on context. We teach that: One artifact does not tell us much, but when we have an assemblage, we can start making inferences about what people were doing: How artifacts that are taken from sites and have not been properly recorded lose much of their scientific value; and how sites that have been disturbed or looted have distorted much of the context needed to learn about what people were doing.
The OEDE site was created by Boy Scouts as part of their Archeology Merit Badge, and my 15 year old daughter. The simulated site and OESE is 4m by 7m and about 1 meter is depth. It was dug out with a back hoe and filled in by an attentive back hoe operator and hand shovel work . In California, the 6th grade history curriculum studies ‘world history’ from the first humans to 500C.E. Because of this we chose to represent a “Roman” site from about 150 CE. We used some reproductions, charred olive, cherry and melon seeds and a lot of broken pottery. (If anyone has a source of reproduction samian ware please contact us.) The scouts also created 16 small columns, like the ones in a Roman hypocaust.
Working with can dump artifacts
Before the students excavate they have 1.5 hours of lessons about archaeology. We start with a power point about the archaeological process. Students are shown the differences between archaeology and history; creating a research plan; field walking, remote sensing; the excavation process; mapping; context; dating; report writing; curation; and observation and inferences. The hands-on part of lesson uses an assemblage of mostly can artifacts from a late 19th early/ 20th a mining camp. The students are asked to determine the use of the artifact. They have modern equivalents and early 20thcentury advertisements to help them with the task. We then review their findings. Then we at look at the assemblage rather the artifacts in isolation, to reach a hypothesis about what the people where doing. This activity engages the students in solving a mystery and helps reinforce the concept of context.
The excavation takes an hour to an hour and half. Since this is what the students really want to do, care is taken so the excavation is data recovery not a treasure hunt. The students are 
divided up into crews of four. Each crew is given a one meter square to excavate to a depth of 20cm. They use a pointed trowel, broom, screen and tape measure. The most difficult part of the process is mapping the artifacts and features they find. On the forms provided the students also describe the soil they excavate.
After the excavation the students take an hour to catalog their finds and fill out a report form. Cataloging involves measuring each recovered artifact, recording what material it is make of and short description. The report includes the weather; environment; soil description and narrative describing what was found.
The students are engaged and “on task” for both the hand-on “can” activity and the excavation. Usually they want to spend more time excavating than time we give them. The cataloging/reporting can be tedious or very engaging depending of the group; BUT is always necessary for the integrity of the lesson.
The points our programs emphases include…….
After excavation reports
The difference between Archaeology and Paleontology
The difference between Archaeology and History
The difference between Observation and Inference
The concept of Archeological context
That Archaeology is not just digging and finding things.
That mapping and recoding is necessary in Archaeology.
Artifacts are excavated are curated, and do not belong the archaeologist.
1 David Hurst-Thomas. 1989. Archaeology. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 2nd edition, page
