Abstract
As a component of the deliverables for the Scientists in Parks internship assisting in the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center project Guam: A Biographic and Maritime Cultural Landscape Exploration of a World War II Amphibious Battlefield, three underwater archaeology based lesson plans were developed. These lesson plans became part of the larger NOAA OER education initiatives and therefore utilize the NOAA approved teaching methodology, Sensemaking. This teaching methodology utilizes interactive exercises to educate students about scientific principles. There is a lack of diversity in the underwater archaeology field. Prior publications have stipulated an increase in the archaeological education pipeline will help increase the accessibility of this field towards a wider range of communities. In an effort to increase this pipeline, these lesson plans were developed for students in the 6th – 8th grades. The first lesson plan “Investigation: What is Underwater Archaeology?” focuses on the multidisciplinary aspect of the field and is a general introduction of the field to students. The second lesson plan, “Investigation: Underwater Archaeology Site Documentation Techniques”, utilizes STEM skills to demonstrate how archaeologists document submerged sites. The third lesson plan, “Investigation: Submerged Battlefield Archaeology” dives deeper into the subdiscipline of submerged battlefield archaeology and uses Guam: A Biographic and Maritime Cultural Landscape Exploration of a World War II Amphibious Battlefield as the case study to show the actual implementation of these practices in a real-world scenario.