ANTHRO-TEACH outreach at local Birmingham city schools

In November and December, 2009 the UAB ANTHRO-TEACH program and students from Lori Cormier and Sharyn Jones' Voyage in Anthropology course (ANTH 481/682) visited local schools in the Birmingham area to conduct outreach workshops. Students are "excavating" mock archaeological sites in dig-boxes and learning about marine biodiversity (left) with Megan Sunderman.

(photos by Lindsey Whiteaker).




Pictured above are Lenny Blottin and Parker High School students during a workshop on Australopithecus. Lenny's presentation included activities from BUILDING BODIES: Student Activity Pages Primate Bipedalism: Understanding Standing Up (see also: the Becoming Human site). Students reconstructed human, chimpanzee, and Australopithecus skeletons, learned about bipedality, the hominid fossil record, and paleoanthropology.

Jade Delisle and Megan Sunderman both presented workshops on marine resource exploitation and environmental archaeology in Fiji, drawing from lesson plans that educate students about the sea. Caitlin Aamodt did a poster and presentation on Place Names in Fiji, based on her research in Fiji this summer. Below are pictures of Caitlin, Jade, and Lindsey Whiteaker at Parker High working with students.

Anne Sorrell directed a workshop on herbal medicine and a history of native healing. She drew activities from the Alabama Learning Exchange and a lesson plan on herbs vs. pharmaceutical medicines. Anne's poster is pictured below.

Chris Pass (above) at Holy Family Elementary School teaching 1st graders about Japanese culture. Photos by Sharyn Jones.

Lindsey Whiteaker at Holy Family teaching students about healthy eating and how to make smart food choices.

Ashley Wilson is pictured below at Holy Family, directing a workshop and poster presentation on the Ethnohistory of Food in Folk Remedies of the Alabama Slaves. Ashley has been studying slave narratives and working on an associated ethnohistory project for over one year now.

Dave Cunningham made a presentation on Ethnomusicology and the culture of music across the world. He illustrated how to use a variety of instruments and taught the kids at Holy Family to play drums and didgeridoos.

Anna McCown discussed what we can learn from studying garbage in Fiji. She based her presentation on a research project she did with Caitlin on the island of Nayau, while conducting an NSF REU fellowship in Fiji's Lau Island Group. Anna and Caitlin plan to present their findings at the Southern Anthropological Society meetings this year.







Mallory Messersmith conducts a workshop about Archaeology and her research in Fiji, at Holy Family Elementary. Mallory is in the process of analyzing a curious archaeological feature that she excavated on the island of Nayau, (Lau Group, Fiji); we think this feature may be a large ritual earth oven, or lovo. She plans to present her data at the Southern Anthropological Society meetings.