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Anthropology is elemental: Anthropological perspective through multilevel teaching
Author(s) -
FUNKHOUSER J. Lynn,
FRIEL JULIANN,
CARR MELINDA,
LIKOS KELLY,
LYNN CHRISTOPHER D.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
annals of anthropological practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.22
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 2153-9588
pISSN - 2153-957X
DOI - 10.1111/napa.12105
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , perspective (graphical) , sociology , mathematics education , general partnership , graduate students , cultural anthropology , pedagogy , graduate education , psychology , anthropology , computer science , political science , artificial intelligence , law , programming language
Modern academia is a concomitant venture involving research, teaching, and service. This article outlines a reimagined service‐learning project that provides research and teaching experience to undergraduate and graduate anthropology students. We teach graduate students to teach undergraduates to teach anthropology to elementary school children. We outline benefits of teaching anthropology to children who are considerably younger than the traditional undergraduate student—benefits to the children and to the undergraduate and graduate instructors. We examine student outcomes at the primary and university level and demonstrate how teaching can help university students more deeply integrate research experiences. While not without impediments, we propose this approach as an educational partnership model that can be adapted to suit any elementary school. Teaching anthropological research in elementary schools exposes a more diverse demographic of students to concepts including evolution, race as a cultural construct, and the impact of culture on humans. [applied anthropology, primary education, service learning]