Dig It Up!

Welcome to DIG IT UP! the first step towards making CHICHIBUD, Jamaica's first cultural playground for children a reality. CHICHIBUD's Mission is to bring Jamaica's rich history and culture alive for young children, their teachers and relatives.

DIG IT UP! and CHICHIBUD were created by Rebecca Tortello, currently a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Comparative Education Program with a focus on sociology. They both grew out of her research interests in museum based education and its connection to education reform in developing countries, particularly the Caribbean since she is originally from Jamaica.

She began working on DIG IT UP! and CHICHIBUD at Harvard University during a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Center for Latin American Studies in 1997. The first "digs" were held in 1998 with over 100 Jamaican children, aged 8-16 years old, participating.

Preview

DIG IT UP! is a week-long history/culture studies kit with an interactive base. Students will learn about specific periods of Jamaica's rich history by becoming "junior archaeologists" and preparing for, participating in and reflecting on a simulated archaeological dig.* All necessary materials are included in the kits.

This unit focuses on the Taino period, 1400's – 1500's.

THEME: Heritage Studies: Pride and Cultural Identity.

RATIONALE for DIG IT UP!:

A number of Jamaica's leading social scientists have repeatedly cited Jamaicans as suffering from an erosion of cultural knowledge and lacking a sense of self-worth. Today the average Jamaican child lives in a society deeply divided along class lines and increasingly characterized by high levels of violence, drug use and deep fragmentation of the family. Cultural systems, humanizing elements and traditional sources of strength in most societies, are under threat from the pervasive nature of American influence. For example, Jamaican children, accounting for some 32% of the population of 2.5 million are growing up more familiar with characters like the Power Rangers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than with the local folk characters like Anancy the Spider Trickster figure. Jamaican children therefore currently run the risk of growing into adulthood with little sense of cultural identity.

The DIG IT UP! curriculum unit will help counteract this alarming trend by providing children, their teachers and relatives with a safe way to explore activities that bring key periods of Jamaican and Caribbean history and culture to life. As an example of informal approaches to education reform at a practical level, DIG IT UP! complements the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture's work by addressing issues of quality, equity, access and relevance. Overall DIG IT UP! seeks to reaffirm a pride in being Jamaican. As an example of locally produced, culturally relevant curriculum materials, this unit aims to help Jamaican children understand themselves, the world in which they live and the places they can make in it for themselves. This learning will in effect become a much-needed mediator in the process of cultural transmission. By linking the past, present and future, DIG IT UP! will act as a "tool for the economic, social and political growth and development of the society from which it springs."

In sum, this unit will supplement the Ministry of Education Youth and Culture's social studies curricula and contain open-ended pre-, during and post-dig activities with multiple entry points that foster the use of creative problem-solving techniques and the practice of cooperative learning.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

The goals for DIG IT UP! are: 1. To offer children active experiences with historical objects in a comfortable but challenging environment. 2. To create situations that encourage children to imagine what life might have been like for the first Jamaicans, what they might have been like, and consider how their actions have impacted on life in Jamaica today. 3. To engage children in a variety of activities which promote creative problem solving, critical thinking and foster a love of, and appreciation for, Jamaican history and culture. Specific communications goals include: 1. Archaeology is the study of culture. 2. Culture is the way of life of a people. 3. The Arawaks/Tainos were Jamaica's first people. They had a rich culture. 4. They lived over 500 years ago and were killed by the Spanish (mostly due to transmission of disease) when they came to Jamaica looking for gold. 5. The name Jamaica comes from the Arawak, "Xaymaca," an important example of how their legacy lives on today.

TIME FRAME: One week – five one hour lesson periods.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Upper elementary – lower secondary aged children ( 8-14 years old), their teachers and their relatives.

We would be happy to email you the 5 day curiculum once you're registered with us.