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Sample Lesson Plans

The lesson plans provided here were produced by 2018 Academic Partnerships summer interns, following intensive time spent rehousing collections excavated from Harvard Yard. Selecting the items that most inspired them, each intern researched collections, got excited by particular themes, and developed a lesson plan designed to engage students with the same sense of novelty and discovery they experienced encountering collections. Interns then gave their lessons a "test-run" with a group of volunteers and, with the feedback provided from participant evaluations, produced the final products provided below.
 
Borrow these lessons in their entirety, or to use them as inspiration in finding your own ways of connecting students to collections; eliciting student participation in your classroom; and connecting concrete materials of the past to broader questions of theory and relevant concerns of today. 

Sample Lesson Plans

British Consumer Products in Late Eighteenth Century America

By Elizabeth Duncan

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand changing attitudes toward British consumer goods in late eighteenth century Harvard/America, through a focus on objects of fashion and personal adornment
  • Consider more broadly the importance of material culture in daily life and identity

Time:

  • 15-20 minutes 

Recommended Number of Participants:

  • minimum of 6 students

Materials:

  • Handouts (included in PDF)- Mid Century (2 pages), Pre-Revolution (3 pages), and Post-Revolution (3 pages)
  • Objects from Peabody Collections:
    • 2014.14.815, Cufflinks, Pewter, gem-shaped cut glass on both faces, 1700-1820
    • 2014.14.769, Shoe buckle, Frame fragment, lead alloy, molded design, 1680-1790
    • Wig Curler (Reproduction), 18th Century, Modeled after original found in colonial Williamsburg

To download or print this lesson and its associated materials, please refer to British Consumer Products in Late Eighteenth Century America (PDF).

Health, Luxury, or Vice? An Objects-Based Exploration of the 1984 Cambridge Drug Store Crisis

By Eli Russell

Learning Objectives:

  • Synthesize evidence from both the archival and material record to make an argument
  • Bring to life the 1894 Cambridge Drug Store Crisis, a fascinating incident in Cambridge and Harvard history
  • Ask larger questions about the significance of categories and the attitudes they reflect

Time:

  • 15-20 minute minimum, can be extended for further discussion time

Recommended number of participants:

  • Ideally 6-15 students, can accommodate 3-30 students

Materials:

  • Collections
    • 987-22-10/100200: White kaolin figural pipe bowl fragment; Recommendation: Place this object on a soft bean bag so that it can be angled with the “face” toward the ceiling. 
    • 992-9-10/103655: Machine-made, three-piece mold blue glass bottle; Recommendation: Place this object on its side so that the maker’s mark on the bottom is visible.
    • 2016.29.121: Cobalt blue glass bottle body fragment; Recommendation: Place a magnifying glass next to this object so that students can examine the lettering closely.
  • Slideshow
  • Slideshow instructor notes
  • Printed handouts

To download or print this lesson and its associated materials, please refer to Health, Luxury or Vice? (PDF), as well as Health, Luxury, or Vice? Slideshow (PDF) and Health, Luxury or Vice? Slideshow script (PDF).

Analyzing the Harvard Diet Using the Harvard Yard Collections

By Connor Sakmar

Learning Objective:

  • To learn about the progression of the Harvard and New England diet by analyzing and learning about objects excavated from Harvard Yard

Time:

  • 25-30 minutes (can be extended)

Materials:

  • Collections
    • 17th Century "Table"
      • 992-9-10/103668: Dark reddish-brown slip glazed redware vessel body and rim fragments, 1 rim fragment with yellow slip decoration
      • 992-9-10/103670: Sheep bone, Mammal bone fragments, 1 vertebral fragment sawn
      • 987-22-10/106291: Plate, Earthenware, tin-glazed, blue on white; base sherd, handpainted floral design
      • 992-9-10/103740: Shell fragments, likely oyster
      • 992-9-10/103664: Bird bone fragments, likely turkey
    • 18th Century "Table"
      • 992-9-10/103673: Bone, mammal, fragments (notice the knife mark)
      • 987-22-10/106293: Tea cup, Scratch blue stoneware base sherd
      • 987-22-10/100135: Fork, Ferrous metal fork fragments, 3 tines, heavily corroded
      • 983-4-10/58811: Plate, pearlware, Blue on white handpainted shell/feather-edged pearlware plate rim and base fragment, white paste
      • 2008.22.141: Glass, handblown, stem; clear, leaded, decorative air twist, acid etched circular decoration
      • 992-9-10/103672: Knife handle, Bone handle, utensil, fragments; carved

To download or print this lesson, please refer to Analyzing the Harvard Diet Using the Harvard Yard Collections (PDF).