Teaching and Learning Theory

1. Teaching and Learning Theory • Anthony Sinclair, • SACE, University of Liverpool

2. We want students to ........ • Cognitive change • the development of key interpretive questions • the nature of key analytical approaches • how to interpret archaeological evidence in a theoretically informed manner • ‘Affective / psychomotor’ changes

3. Palaeolithic Theory 1985 / 2008

4. The Manufacture & Use of Technology

5. The Manufacture & Use of Technology • Archaeological assemblage • classification • core / flake / blade • tool type / debitage • tool function • tool type / debitage type • archaeological culture • toolkit / gear • task • tool function • tool use life • task planning • curation and expediency • risk • scarcity, ............... and another 8 more concepts to be able to think with

6. Teaching frameworks • The Historical Approach • Antiquarianism • Culture History • The economic approach of Graham Clark • The New Archaeology • Post-Processual Archaeology • Current Themes • gender • landscape and being • agency • evolutionary approaches

7. Teaching Frameworks • The thematic approach • how to interpret • ‘diet’ • ‘trade and exchange’ • ‘the organisation of space’ • ‘the structure of time’ • ‘social relationships’ • e.g. ‘ranking’ • ‘material culture’ • ‘multi-vocality’

8. Forms of Assessment • the essay and its question • the data set

9. The essay & its question “Monuments are better understood from the inside in phenomenological terms than from the outside in New Archaeological or Marxist terms. Do you agree with this?” • can sometimes work well • reveals development of thought chains • But, how much do you really like to re-read • Renfrew and Bahn, Hodder, Johnson?

10. The Data Set “What factors might be relevant for interpreting the % of obsidian at ‘x’ ?” • has some good elements • theory <-------> data • adding the problem of qualitative / quantitative data analysis

11. The Data Set “The Office Culture” What makes an office? .....desk, telephone, office chair, filing cabinet, computer....

12. “The Office Culture” • ‘financial’ reasons (wealth) • ‘social’ reasons (social class) • ‘functional’ reasons (tasks) • ‘environmental’ reasons • ‘historical’ reasons

13. Some Problems • reading about, understanding and digestion of theory takes time • sources: • basic texts or articles • are we clear about what students need to know? • can we be sure that students understand theory? • do we need to think about a ‘curriculum’? • what would a curriculum look like?

14. Renfrew & Bahn: What shall we explain? • artifacts • what was this tool used for, how was it made? • events • how was Stonehenge made, why was this animal eaten? • classes of events • how did agriculture start, why did people make monumental buildings? • general cultural change • how did societies become more unequal?

15. David Clarke: • The archaeologist at work

16. Ian Hodder • The Archaeological Process

17. The Concept • to understand data sets you need to be clear about the concepts that ‘inform’ data. • classificatory concepts • define a grouping • correlational concepts • link ‘facts’ - evolution • theoretical concepts • entities that cannot be seen • some concepts may be • threshold concepts • a theory curriculum? • doorways to understanding?

18. The Concept Map

19. The Concept Map