The Search for Shipwrecks: This lesson plan will give students an opportunity to do some of the basic primary source analysis, problem solving, and mathematics archaeologists use to find shipwrecks. They will read primary documents looking for clues about a shipwreck’s location and then learn how remote sensing techniques help archaeologists search for evidence.
The Science of Conservation: Students will learn about the special care archaeologists must give to shipwreck artifacts. Different materials react in different ways in the ocean’s salt water and chemical reactions take place changing the artifacts and threatening their continued existence. Demonstrations will show how corrosion affects metals and how archaeologists catalogue an artifact’s condition for future conservation.
Shipwreck CSI: In this program, students inspect a mock shipwreck they must identify using clues from pri-mary source material and the wreck itself. Archaeologists follow similar methods when ex-amining a newly discovered shipwreck. This activity involves students practicing problem solving skills and employing their mathematical abilities while piecing clues together about the ship’s identity.
