Fuhler Artifact Bag Article

The article begins by setting the stage to the activity that will be done in a hypothetical classroom. To create a sense that background knowledge and communication are important during the artifact bag activity, Fuhler quotes many other articles that express that each student will bring a unique aspect to this activity. Due to the children having unique backgrounds, the group discussions may be more enriching and allow others to express their feelings on the matter because the teacher has also made a safe environment for the children to learn and discuss.

An artifact bag is usually one you create and decorate to make more visually appealing and fun for the students. The artifact bag above may be one that is used in a professional setting. The teachers role during the artifact bag activity is crucial. When I create an artifact bag and have students look inside, I want to make sure that I am scaffolding their knowledge as stated by Vygotsky and Bruner. Scaffolding is when the teacher or instructor builds upon prior instruction to help a student solve a problem or master a new skill. As a teacher, it us also my job to model how the process of using the artifact bag should be done rather than verbally telling the students the different steps. By modeling for the students, they will most likely have better recollection on how to begin and the process. During my modeling practice, I will read and think aloud, ask questions as I go, predict what might happen or what the next item may be, and create a summary at the end of what I did and found.

For my artifact bag, I will have items that pertain to the American Revolution. To begin this activity, I will model for students how to carefully open the artifact in the bag and what type of questions they need to be thinking about. Following my demonstration, I will demonstrate how the students should be filling out the data collection sheet. This sheet is important because it gets the group talking about what they have found so far and what they expect to find.

This activity is very useful when creating a unit plan. When I teach this lesson, I will most likely conduct the activity during the end of the unit. This way the students have some prior knowledge of the time period and what events were taking place when this artifact could have been found. I will also gather many different articles for the students to read after looking at the artifact and different books. I may also gather some photographs to connect prior knowledge to the artifact even more.