Title:	SUPPORTING LEARNING BY DOING IN ARCHAEOLOGY WITH ACTIVE PROCESS MAPS
Author(s):	Marco P. Locatelli, Viviana Ardesia, Federico Cabitza
ISBN:	978-972-8939-17-5
Editors:	Miguel Baptista Nunes and Maggie McPherson
Year:	2010
Edition:	Vol. I
Keywords:	Learning by doing, archaeology, processes, documents, process maps, ProDoc.
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	218
Last Page:	225
Language:	English
Cover:
Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	In 1992 a round table in Archaeology was given in Rome; the meaningful and provocative title was: "A Bachelor’s Degree doesn’t Make an Archaeologist". In order to become an archaeologist, a student has to follow a very structured institutional procedure, but archaeological surveys and excavations are based on practical experience. Although many manuals describe how surveys should be performed at length, more often than not this procedural knowledge can not be acquired without lengthy experience in the field. Archaeology is therefore a discipline where “learning by doing” has an important role in vocational training. However, training in the field is not completely free from problems: e.g., regarding learning either general or local practices in a well-combined manner; understanding tacit knowledge resulting from work experience; experts' availability (and willingness to help) in the field, since experts have their own archaeological work to do, in addition to teaching chores. We propose an approach and an application to support ‘learning by doing’ in archaeology that is grounded on the idea to provide process maps combined with paper-looking forms and documents. We provided students with useful knowledge about when and how to perform due activities aptly and about what information they should have been collecting during each task of theirs. The proposed approach and application have been evaluated during two archaeological excavations where both teaching and learning are of the utmost importance.
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