USING THE MODULES
The following pages give lectures for each of the course topics as noted in the syllabus. Many new ideas begin with questions to ask the class to answer and discuss as they proceed through the subject matter. Each lecture is written with the considerations of:
1. integrating many or all of the seven principles
2. trying to lecture less and get students to participate more actively
3. making the story both intriguing and connected with the student's everyday life
Beginning lecture topics with questions and continuing not just to tell all but to ask for the students' ideas and opinions every step of the way (a very modified Socratic method) encourages participation from the first day onward.
The class participation grade is determined by giving an individual grade when taking attendance (not every day but at least 10 times throughout the semester), based on the amount of discussion or question-answering the student does in the classroom. In this fashion the instructor does not have to memorize 40 names, but can note faces of students who are participating well. Many absences of course lower the class participation grade.
These lectures are based on the two textbooks (Moseley 2001, Bruhns 1994) and a few assigned articles (Atwood 2002, 2003; Roosevelt et al. 1996; Gibbons 1996; Fagan 1997; Mann 2000, 2002). Lectures do not repeat what is in the readings that students are supposed to do on their own, but compare the texts and integrate the material to present a broad view and diverse interpretations of the past. Lectures also add the newest material that has not yet made it into texts. Pictures and maps from books, articles, and slides are shown throughout all classes. Especially useful are issues of National Geographic, Natural History, Archaeology, Discover, Science and other popular magazines, and books (e.g., Fagan 1985) with color pictures. I use a document camera that can project pictures onto the screen, or make slides of or scan such pictures for a cd presentation. Many issues of these popular publications with excellent color photos are cited in the course modules and references section. Old National Geographics and such can often be found at second-had stores, or the instructor can take a cheap digital camera to the library and photograph these images to present in class in different formats. The computer in the classroom can show research and news websites with the very newest items not yet even in print (I do not list many websites since they change so constantly; new ones can be located before each class). Every class session should be accompanied by some kind of visual aid. The stunning landscapes, astounding diversity of the natural terrain of South America, not to mention beautiful or unusual artifacts, complex and monumental sites, and other images, must be seen and appreciated repeatedly by the students, most of whom have never been to South America.
This course covers the entire continent of South America, and thus does not delve as deeply into just Andean archaeology or Peruvian prehistory as courses with those titles would do. Expansion of specific modules could be done by instructors wishing more narrow course topics, just as a shrinking of the entire course package could be done for its insertion into a class on archaeology of Latin America or the New World in general. Other alterations might fit different kinds of courses or semester/quarter schedules (for example, much of the long Module 1 could be moved to or repeated in Module 10 on Archaeology and Society). Because of the two textbooks, I assign only a few additional articles, and try to make them from more popular publications instead of scientific journals, not only to make the student workload less difficult, but also because popular articles are more likely to have color pictures. For the graduate-level section of the class additional, more professional reading is assigned, usually more specialized books and journal articles. Many details of South American archaeology are debatable or changeable; I hope users of this course package and other reviewers will help correct mistakes and update areas with new information.