Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom

Our goal for Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom is to engage more elementary students and teachers in classrooms and communities across the state in the study of Colorado archaeology through hands-on experience with artifacts, methods, and tools.

• Hands-on teaching kits containing real and cast artifacts and lessons for elementary schools.
• Training for teachers in their districts on how to best use the kits in their classrooms.
• A classroom presentation featuring real and cast artifacts focusing on the pre-history of Colorado.

To find out how to get a Colorado Archaeology kit and curriculum for your classroom or school, arrange an in-district teacher training, and/or a presentation for your classroom, please contact museumed@colorado.edu or call (303) 492-1033.

Explore more

• Ancient Technology Videos
• Fire Starting
• Online Resources for Teachers and Students
• Horses in the North American West ES 

The Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom is developed for Colorado School Districts by:

• Dr. Stephen Lekson, Ph.D. Professor, Anthropology, and Curator of Archaeology, CU Museum of Natural History, Boulder.
• Jim Hakala, Senior Educator, CU Museum of Natural History, Boulder.

Partners in the Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom project include:

• Mesa Verde National Park provides educational materials for the Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom kits and collaborates in the in-district teacher training for the project.
• The Mesa Verde Museum Association provides printed and digital educational materials for the Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom kits.
• The Federal Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) "Discovering Archaeology in Colorado" and "Intrigue of the Past" is used with BLM's collaboration as the curriculum/teacher guide for the kits. This standards-based curriculum is widely used and well established in the field.
• The State Historic Preservation Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation provides the publication "Ancient Colorado: An Archaeological Perspective" for inclusion in the classroom kits.
• The Crow Canyon Archeological Center in Cortez, CO provided important visual timeline materials and hundreds of pottery sherds for inclusion in the kits.
• The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, provided hundreds of pottery sherds for inclusion in the classroom kits.
• CU's Science Discovery advertises and manages the logistics for the Colorado Archaeology classroom presentation.

Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom is generously funded by the University of Colorado Boulder Office of Strategic Relations and Communications and the University of Colorado Boulder Museum of Natural History.