Vermont’s Revolutionary Past Meets Digital Future: Virtual Place-based Education with Archaeology

Angela Labrador, VAS President (via Zoom)

When the Vermont Archaeological Society was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture grant for the summer of 2020, we were prepared to host 72 K-12 teachers on the shores of Lake Champlain where they would learn firsthand the magic of using archaeology to deliver place-based education to their students. Entitled “Freedom and Unity: The Struggle for Independence on the Vermont Frontier,” the weeklong workshops featured an immersive program related to the American Revolution at partnering historic sites in the Champlain Valley. Enter COVID. After postponing the 2020 program, we made the difficult decision to transition to a virtual context for 2021. Then came the real challenge: how to teach place-based education using terrestrial and underwater archaeological sites fully online–and without a physical place. Learn about how we met this challenge to deliver a successful and highly-reviewed workshop that was in many ways more usable for teachers than what we would have done in person. This Zoom presentation will highlight the digital experiences we developed and will end with info on how to access the content and an invitation to join our virtual excavation of Mount Independence.

A short business meeting will follow. All are welcome.

Please register to receive Zoom invitation