Artifact Bag Lesson Example

The whole class was lucky enough to take part in an Artifact bag inquiry lesson plan conducted by the one and only Dr. Smirnova. The class split up into their fieldwork groups, and were each given a bag containing clues.

The first clue that my group pulled out of the bag was a piece of paper that looked like a legal document. Our group was lucky enough to have Krista who identified it as a birth certificate. She was able to do so because she spoke Russian and was able to read what it said. The writing on the box used a style known as cyrillic which is used primarily in Eastern Europe.

The second clue we received was a jewelry box. The correct term for this is a lacquer box. These are boxes made in a specific town in Russia by Moscow. We were able to figure this out with the help of Dr. Smirnova. She informed us that the design used golden circles which is a symbolic sign in Russia. Inside the box was a broach of an American flag. We figured out that this represented Dr. Smirnova because she is a Russian American.

The third clue we received from the bag was a picture of an old Russian woman. We noticed that she was wearing a specific type of scarf. We searched this and learned that the scarf is known as a Babushka headscarf and is commonly worn by older women in Russia. The picture we had was of Dr. Smirnova's Babushka which means grandmother in English.

Using the clues in the artifact bag we were able to come up with the conclusion that all of the clues related to Dr. Smirnova and the country we were given was Russia.