Student Learning through Virtual Archaeology: the "Like a Fishhook" Native American Village Site

考古学是一门学科，它为人类提供了通往过去的各种渠道：它是我们穿越时间的方式。虽然考古学家只能梦想着把时间旅行作为对他们的推理和解释的最终检查，但现代技术可以在虚拟现实中实现虚拟时间旅行。在这个项目中，通过将身临其境的基于角色的技术与考古学、人种学和历史学的原理和数据相结合，我们正在开发一个环境，用于向几代学生教授所有这些学科。这个项目是根据一个真实的印度村庄创建一个虚拟考古遗址，这个村庄有一段不寻常的历史。19世纪30年代，达科他地区爆发了天花疫情，导致当地印第安人元气大伤，三个部落的幸存者联合起来建立了这个村庄。该项目正在创建一个虚拟的村庄，因为它存在于1854年，然后在100年后的1954年，经过广泛的考古挖掘和对这个村庄的记录。在这次勘探之后，该地区立即因修建大坝而被淹没。早期项目的研究证据表明，在主动学习环境中开发和使用合成环境的方法具有潜在的学习优势。我们相信，学生在虚拟环境中学习的科学知识和解决问题的技能与学生参与真实考古“挖掘”的学习相匹配。这个项目的目标是生产一个教育软件产品供全国分发。这一努力的成功前景正在通过评估研究得到加强，我们期望这些研究将支持我们的信念，即这种教学方法既提高了学生对传统课程的学习，又通过其他课程的联系扩大了学生的学习范围。这个项目是通过北达科他州立大学计算机科学系和社会与人类学系的合作，与明尼苏达州立大学穆尔黑德分校（MSUM）和詹姆斯敦学院（一所私立的四年制文理学院）的教师合作进行的。

Anthropology (81)Archaeology is the discipline that provides humans with a conduit of sorts to the past: it is our way to travel through time. Although archaeologists can only dream of time travel as an ultimate check on their reasoning and interpretations, modern technology can make virtual time travel possible in virtual reality. In this project, by combining immersive role-based technology with the principles and data of archaeology, ethnography, and history, we are developing an environment for teaching generations of students about all of these disciplines. The project is creating a virtual archaeology site based on a real Indian village with a somewhat unusual history. "Like-a-Fishhook" was first established in the 1830s following a smallpox epidemic in the Dakota Territory which so depleted native Americans that the survivors of three tribes banded together to establish this village. The project is creating a virtual village as it existed in 1854 and then 100 years later in 1954, following an extensive archeological dig and documentation of this village. Immediately after this exploration, this the area was flooded following the construction of a dam. Evidence from research on earlier projects indicates that there are potential learning advantages to the approach developing and using synthetic environments in an active learning context. We believe that student learning of scientific knowledge and problem-solving skills in our virtual environment matches student learning from participation in a real archeological "dig." The objective of this project is to produce an educational software product for national distribution. The prospects for the success of this effort are being strengthened by evaluation research that we expect will support our belief that this instructional approach both enhances student learning of traditional curriculum and expands the scope of student learning through other curricular connections. This project is being undertaken through collaboration between the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Dakota State University, in cooperation with teachers at Minnesota State University - Moorhead (MSUM) and Jamestown College, a private four-year liberal arts college.