Hands-on prehistory and archaeology workshops tailored for primary, secondary, and IB classrooms across Portugal
I’ve taught students from age 3 to 83 a variety of topics and in various ways. Since starting Prehistoric Portugal, it has been a real pleasure to communicate the fascinating period of prehistory to students in schools around Lisboa. I’ve organized a variety of workshops for students at different grade levels, giving them an overview of Portugal’s prehistory and details that are appropriate to their school’s curriculum. These workshops have fit into the IB Diploma (especially Theory of Knowledge), the Portuguese National Curriculum, and school-based international curricula.
Example Workshops:
Primary
Everyday Life in the Stone Age: hands-on overview of the Paleolithic, including timeline creation, rock engravings, daily life, how we know what we know.
Intermediate/Secondary
Ancient Past/Modern Reality: Portugal’s prehistoric heritage, mapping prehistoric sites, visiting ancient monuments and relevance to today’s world.
Upper Secondary/IB
How Do We Know What We Know?: evaluating and interpreting physical evidence, conjectures vs. knowledge, archaeology vs. myth
Topics and activities that I’ve presented include:
- Stages in human prehistory in Portugal
- Important prehistoric sites around the country
- Daily life and activities at different periods of prehistory
- Building a timeline of events in Portuguese history and prehistory
- Challenging common misconceptions about prehistory
- The difference between History and Prehistory
- What is important to know about history and prehistory
- How do we know things in prehistory?
Besides presenting information to students and fostering discussions, I’ve worked to organize active hands-on lessons. These have included building a timeline (working with others to order events chronologically), examining and evaluating stone artefacts to identify the prehistoric stone tool, creating their own prehistoric art design, and more.
At-a-glance:
- Workshops are customized to meet your needs:
- Duration: one class period (45-60 mins), or a specific time period that works for you (multi-session workshops can be organized)
- Location: Lisbon area (other areas of Portugal are possible as well)
- Language: English (Portuguese/Bilingual can be arranged)
- Group size: classroom (20-25 students) or year group
- Materials: I’ll bring the specialised materials, your students should be prepared to work and learn (pencils/pen, notebooks, etc.)
Interested in bringing prehistory to life in your classroom?
Get in touch with details about your grade level and current curriculum focus, and we can discuss how to tailor a session for your students.