My mission is to create and deepen a sense of pride of place and belonging for children of all ages and backgrounds. Through workshops and field trips children experience our island nation as a place of vivid encounter and exchange, where different cultures have brought in new technologies and ideas, enriching the lives of all people living here from the Stone Age to the present.
Who built that dolmen? Who lived in this fort? These are some of the questions children get to have fun answering. They also learn to make their own inquiries about their local area from their Elders, collecting stories from their own communities, which always helps in their developing a sense of appreciation and pride of their own place.
In general workshops consist of an introduction where I get a feeling for what the children already know. I then elaborate the discussion on what an archaeologist does, how we gather our evidence, and why some artifacts survive the test of time. We then explore how this ‘evidence’ paints the picture of what we know about how people lived long ago. We journey through the timeline, starting with Ireland’s first arrivals in the Stone Age, then continuing on to the present day or focusing on a particular era if the children want to do a project on something specific that inspires them.
Alternatively a workshop can be focused on the school itself in its environment, investigating what archaeological or historical monuments are in the area using the archaeological survey database, an interactive website. These monuments will then be investigated and put into their place on the timeline, or used to create a mini survey of the area.
