Anthropology Is Elemental
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Since 2010, HBERG students have staffed a four-field, 12-week anthropology course developed for the Tuscaloosa Magnet School Elementary-UA Partnership. Recently, to capitalize on HBERG research experiences, we developed an Anthropology of Costa Rica course that is offered in the fall and an Anthropology of Madagascar course in the spring. In 2015, the program was expanded to Arcadia Elementary. This service opportunity has been turned into a credit-bearing service-learning course that will also be serving the Tuscaloosa Magnet School Middle. Currently, we are compiling the lessons we’ve developed for these courses that will be shared online and via a manual. We were funded by Wenner-Gren to expand the program. This expansion included developing a video blog cultural exchange between Tuscaloosa school and partners in Madagascar through Big Red Earth NGO.
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Anthropology is Elemental students putting on their "anthropology glasses" to conduct ethnographic work at Tuscaloosa Magnet School Elementary with instructors Kelly Likos, Hannah Tytus, and Joyia Pittman.
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Unfortunately, this program has been on hold since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the partnership programs with the local schools. I hope these resume in the near future.
For more info about this program, check out the Anthropology is Elemental website anthropologyiselemental.ua.edu/.
For more info about this program, check out the Anthropology is Elemental website anthropologyiselemental.ua.edu/.
Publications
JL Funkhouser*, J Friel*, M Carr*, K Likos*, CD Lynn. (2016) Anthropology is elemental: Anthropological perspective through multilevel teaching. Annals of Anthropological Practice 40(2):246-257. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/napa.12105/full.
I started this program when the Magnet School PTA reached out to me and archaeologist Duke Beasley because our kids were in 3rd grade there. We recruited several graduate students from UA to help, including then-doctoral student Lynn Funkhouser. Lynn helped several times when we were developing the modules as a volunteer outreach, then she was the instructor of the service-learning course we developed for the first two years. This article outlines the development and pedagogy used to develop the service-learning course and the benefits to the doctoral student who instructs at the university, the master's and upper level undergraduates who take the university course and go into the local elementary schools as part of the course, and the elementary students in the university-elementary enrichment partnership. Co-authors Juliann Friel, Melinda Carr, and Kelly Likos were graduate and undergraduate students who took the first service-learning courses with Lynn and contributed their perspectives to this program self-evaluation.
CD Lynn, VR Beasley, III, AS Cohen, HF Dengah, II, JL Funkhouser, K Herndon, and AB Persons. Anthropology is Elementary and can be Taught There: Teaching Four-Field Anthropology to 3rd and 4th Grade Students. Anthropology News. June/July 2014. http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2014/05/29/anthropology-is-elementary-and-can-be-taught-there/
We have tried to share our model for teaching four-field anthropology in elementary schools as much as possible because we couldn't find many resources for developing our course when we started. This piece was written with Duke Beasley, who was my original partner when we first offered the program, as Duke is a contract archaeologist whose son was in the same Magnet School class of my children. Anna Cohen, Francois Dengah, Lynn Funkhouser, Kelsey Herndon, and Brooke Persons were all graduate students at the time who helped developed the program and taught it together for a few semesters.
I started this program when the Magnet School PTA reached out to me and archaeologist Duke Beasley because our kids were in 3rd grade there. We recruited several graduate students from UA to help, including then-doctoral student Lynn Funkhouser. Lynn helped several times when we were developing the modules as a volunteer outreach, then she was the instructor of the service-learning course we developed for the first two years. This article outlines the development and pedagogy used to develop the service-learning course and the benefits to the doctoral student who instructs at the university, the master's and upper level undergraduates who take the university course and go into the local elementary schools as part of the course, and the elementary students in the university-elementary enrichment partnership. Co-authors Juliann Friel, Melinda Carr, and Kelly Likos were graduate and undergraduate students who took the first service-learning courses with Lynn and contributed their perspectives to this program self-evaluation.
CD Lynn, VR Beasley, III, AS Cohen, HF Dengah, II, JL Funkhouser, K Herndon, and AB Persons. Anthropology is Elementary and can be Taught There: Teaching Four-Field Anthropology to 3rd and 4th Grade Students. Anthropology News. June/July 2014. http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2014/05/29/anthropology-is-elementary-and-can-be-taught-there/
We have tried to share our model for teaching four-field anthropology in elementary schools as much as possible because we couldn't find many resources for developing our course when we started. This piece was written with Duke Beasley, who was my original partner when we first offered the program, as Duke is a contract archaeologist whose son was in the same Magnet School class of my children. Anna Cohen, Francois Dengah, Lynn Funkhouser, Kelsey Herndon, and Brooke Persons were all graduate students at the time who helped developed the program and taught it together for a few semesters.
Support
CD Lynn (2016-2018) "Anthropology is Elemental." Innovations in Public Awareness of Anthropology. Wenner-Gren Foundation. $19,037.
