University of Chicago (Oriental Institute Museum)

The Oriental Institute, with two university collaborators, will develop, test, and implement This History, Our History: Ancient Mesopotamia Online. This interactive project about ancient Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq, will be developed for nationwide educational use. The project will feature three components: First, an interface with curriculum-based interactives. Modeled after the Oriental Institute's current materials, the interface will incorporate visual thinking strategies as the foundation of its learning theory. The grade 6-12 student-focused interactives will relay the concepts behind the science of archaeology, the discovery of Mesopotamian civilization, its artifacts, and the understanding of its history over time. Second, a searchable database of artifacts called a Learning Collection, will be created to support independent educational exploration of ancient Mesopotamian culture. This digital collection of museum artifacts will be searchable through metadata from museum records for the artifacts, as well as from teacher-developed contextual descriptions. And third, an online course for K-12 educators will serve educators nationwide who wish to enhance and broaden their knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia. This course will initially offer state recertification and University credits to teachers with the future goal of accrediting teachers across the nation. The Oriental Institute anticipates that This History, Our History will become a model teaching and learning tool for use in classrooms across the nation