Teaching my daughters class about stone age v modern age

[nephilim]

So thanks to my daughter, I've been roped into teaching her class about the difference of stone age equipment and modern age equipment.

Equipment I've decided to bring in.

My recurve bow (will not be strung so it can be passed around and the children can have a look).

My axe and a comparative sized piece of flint (appropriately sheathed).

My flint and steel

My fire steel and striker

Leather bag to hold the flint pieces.

Arrow heads (modern)

Arrow head (flint)

Char cloth

I was thinking about buying jerky and fruit leather to show how food was preserved with smoke and drying. What else do you think I should do? I have 90 minutes to cover.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Some leather and cloth to compare clothing materials?
Bone
Antler
Pitch stick and glue stick

 

[nephilim]

Hmm...I'll need to find some bones or antler...I might have some resin I can make into pitch.

 

[Ogri the trog]

How about a bag of modern rubbish - the result of our consumer / wasteful society!

To compare with the scant evidence of our ancestors hundreds-of-thousands-of-years of existence.

It doesn't have to stink (though it might add to the effect) for the sake of cleanliness.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Tengu]

Yes, I think you might like to emphasise that the vast majority of stone age artefacts were `not` stone and so are unlikley to survive.

 

[nephilim]

I was thinking of bringing in fresh berries and nuts that grow from around the area and explain the foraging as well.

 

[Freelander]

Antler/bone splinter needle and sinew, along with metal needle and poly cotton thread.

Cordage and nylon rope/string

Woad/ocher and foundation/lip stick

 

[nephilim]

I've got cordage which I will bring in. As nettles are still in abundance I may try to make some this weekend...

 

[Robson Valley]

Animal, vegetable, mineral. That's all they had.
My house would be more than 1/2 empty if I took out all the plastic (including this keyboard.)

 

[Hammock_man]

Animal, vegetable, mineral. That's all they had.

Not a bad "Hook" to hang your ideas on.

 

[mrcharly]

Compare leather and plastic

 

[Leshy]

You got tools and materials covered...

Diet comparison and nutrition differences is a must as subjects go!
Sugar, protein, fats , Carbohydrates,etc.

foraging, hunting vs shopping

... especially as its such an important topic right now with parents and health advisors, and where we are unfortunately in the middle of a obesity epidemic.
Just my twopence

 

[Tengu]

In Bridges `Uttermost parts of the Earth` he mentions the natives had an insult, that a person was so fat, he couldnt hunt and his wife had to feed him on fish.

So, prehistoric man had plenty of dietary issues, including obesity.

(And of course we note that often obesity was a health benefit, such as with the Polynesians.)

 

[wales1]

What about shelter? Will be a big difference in terms of using natural shelters rather than the modern sil nylon etc

Steve

 

[nephilim]

So the lesson was a ripping success. The teacher is going to see if the other classes in the keystage group would be interested with what I have shown today.

I'd love to have had more time, but I got them to try a flint and steel, and a modern striker, which many had trouble with both.

I took the bow in, and used it to show them just how big they are, and the bow was bigger than all the children.

Also showed my axes, and compared them to stone tools via the teachers whiteboard.

Also took in fresh picked conkers, apples, raspberries, and various herbs found on the journey.

The children loved it because it was an interesting and interactive lesson, they could hold the various tools and materials.

The teacher took lots of pictures which may be put on the school website.

 

[andyn]

Uncanny. I guess your daughter is in year 3? I've just been asked to do the same this Friday. Glad it went well for you.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[nephilim]

Yes she is year 3 was hard stuff, but they loved it. Learning about the flint and steel, iron pyrites, and bow drill methods, as well as stone tools like arrows, adze, axe etc.

 

[Tank]

sounds great. would be great to see some photos.

 

[nephilim]

We'll see what happens with them

 

[northumbriman]

Show them the human population size from stone age period compared to today. Estimates for the stone age are 1-10 million people current figures are around 7.5 billion. It will help them understand the immense pressure that the human population is placing on the environment. If you are going to discuss foraging compared to shopping it will also be important to point out that humans can no longer provide for their needs via hunter gatherer and rely on factory farming and highly technical food production to meet the food needs we have now.