Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Interpret artifacts, map sites, and build an evidence-based archaeology capstone in this 3-week program for elementary school students at Fairfield University.
Course Description
How can an object reveal the life of a person who used it long ago? Students practice the archaeologist’s core move: observing carefully before making an inference. Mystery bags, artifact descriptions, and replica-making challenges show how shape, material, context, and missing information affect an interpretation.
Hands-on investigations include creating clay vessels or figurines, designing hieroglyphic stories, mapping a familiar or imagined place with symbols, and testing tool shapes through a bird-beak experiment. Students compare evidence, record what they notice, and explain why one conclusion is better supported than another. Activities also explore how early people solved problems with available natural materials.
For the capstone, students select an archaeological question or site concept and assemble evidence into a poster, map, model, or exhibit-style presentation. They label observations and inferences separately, explain the limits of the evidence, and share what additional information would strengthen their conclusion.
This three-week course is part of Summer Discovery’s Institute for the Gifted program on Fairfield University’s campus. The course is available to commuter students. Beyond class, students connect engaging academic exploration with campus life, new friendships, growing confidence, and curiosity about what students may want to explore next.
What Will You Do?
• Separate observations from inferences when examining artifacts
• Reconstruct an object from a limited archaeological description
• Create symbols and a hieroglyphic story
• Map a site using scale, landmarks, and a clear legend
• Test how tool shapes affect performance through an experiment
• Design and present an evidence-based archaeology capstone
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Use artifact features and context to make a supported inference about the past
• Create maps, models, and records that document archaeological evidence
• Present an interpretation while explaining uncertainty and missing information
Students will leave with replica artifacts, field-style records, and a capstone display showing how evidence can be used to reconstruct part of the human past.
Why Archaeology Skills Matter
Archaeology turns curiosity about the past into disciplined reasoning. Students learn that an object does not explain itself: its location, material, wear, and relationship to other evidence all matter. Separating observation from inference helps prevent a confident guess from being treated as fact.
Mapping, model making, and comparison activities strengthen spatial thinking, measurement, communication, and attention to detail. These skills support history and science learning while giving students a practical way to ask how people know what they claim to know about the past.
Who Should Attend?
This course is for elementary school students who have completed 4th or 5th grade and enjoy history, mysteries, maps, making objects, or asking how we know what happened long ago. It fits careful observers who like combining clues and explaining their reasoning.
Students should be ready to handle materials responsibly, record details, work with classmates, and revise an interpretation when new evidence appears.
A strong participant brings curiosity, patience, and a willingness to revise. The most important preparation is readiness to ask questions and take part.
Why Fairfield University?
Fairfield gives elementary students a fun and welcoming first taste of campus life in a coastal Connecticut town along Long Island Sound. The day includes hands-on classes, outdoor courtyard time, shared meals, and opportunities to make friends in a setting that feels active without feeling overwhelming.
The commuter-only Institute for the Gifted has operated at Fairfield for more than two decades. Students try new challenges and build confidence within a clear, structured program day. For families, Fairfield offers an age-appropriate combination of learning, creativity, friendship, routine, and support. Students get the fun of a summer program and the satisfaction of discovering what they can make, solve, and explore next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive