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Who we are: |
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The Center for
Archaeology is an outdoor educational facility operated for and by the Baltimore County
Public Schools in the State of Maryland. The Center was established 14 years ago by
teacher-archaeologist George Brauer, now a curriculum specialist for the district’s Office of Social Studies in the Department of Curriculum and
Instruction. The facility falls under the school system's ‘Division of
Educational Support Services’ which maintains the "Essential Curriculum"
for the county schools - "the non-negotiable program of study that the teachers are
expected to teach and students are to expected to learn". Over the past decade, archaeology has been steadily introduced into elementary, middle school and high school teacher course study guides through core social studies curriculum written by George Brauer. The Center’s work is geared towards meeting the identified needs of the school district which in turn coincide with State educational goals: The educational focus in the State of Maryland is on 'performance based learning' (learning by doing; learning using real-life, hands-on activities), interdisciplinary study, critical thinking, and multicultural equity. The Center's mission is to provide instructional programming in archaeology and related historical studies for teachers and students. Specifically, the Center designs and distributes classroom instructional materials, provides on-site archaeology field activities, offers direct instructional support for teachers, trains teachers, provides outreach programming and operates a museum that provides direct instructional support for on-site activities. |
| The Baltimore County public school district is the 25th largest public school system in the country with 159 schools and a total enrollment of 106,000 students (more than 130 elementary, twenty-nine middle, and twenty-seven high schools, plus various alternative and special education facilities). The archaeology program is now quite extensive after starting with one class in one high school. Eighteen high schools offer a semester- long elective archaeology course each year for approximately 800-900 students. Upwards of fifty third grade classes (a total of 1500 students) are serviced yearly with school visitation programs that have content aligned towards the Maryland Schools Performance Assessment Program. Ten third grade classes participate yearly in excavation at a simulated site run by the Center, while all third grade classes have Curriculum-Matched Programming provided through an original, award-winning program televised on the school district's cable television station. The Center for Archaeology produces archaeology exercises for inclusion in the 'World Culture' study guides used in the 6th and 7th grade curriculum and each summer the Center offers District teachers an in-service continuing education program with excavation and laboratory experience. The Center's activities include enrichment learning options for Title 1 and Gifted and Talented students. The Center also provides Adult Education courses through the BCPS' Community Education Program. |
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