An important part of education is hands-on learning, whether this be
through building a project, playing a game with pieces or cards, or
even assembling a kit. There are many commercially available resources
of this nature, but often costs are prohibitive, especially for a cash-strapped
school system. Here we offer instructions, plans, and some downloadable
modules for in-class or weekend projects that help students understand
medieval-colonial technologies
Models | Kits
| Games | Larger Projects
| Other things...
Models (simple
in-class projects) |
| Downloadable Kits |
|
|
- The waterwheel - make simple waterwheels from materials such as 2
liter soda bottles and cottage cheese containers
|
| Commercially available Kits (mostly paper) |
- A paper
model of a new england gristmill (Fiddlersgreen.net)
- A paper
model of an English tower windmill (Fiddlersgreen.net)
- A paper
model of a smock windmill (Fiddlersgreen.net)
- A paper
model of a Welsh watermill (Fiddlersgreen.net)
|
Kits (more
involved construction models) |
| The Waterwheel
Tester |
Based on John Smeaton's groundbreaking 18th century waterwheel
testing device, this shop project requiring about $100-150 in
materials and a modest amount of woodworking abilities
will allow classes of students to develop their own
working waterwheels and test them in a fun and competitive environment |
| Build a Bread
Oven |
Greg Ziegler (PSU Food Science) has made both of these with
students and has extensive pictorial materials. Combined with
his quern project below, this project will give students an idea
of the amount of work which went into the production of a single
loaf of bread.
These projects allow students to build a small bread oven out
of a large flower pot, or for a slightly more adventurous project,
out of wood and clay that will bake bread using ordinary charcoal
briquettes. |
| The Quern |
For communities or families without access to a watermill,
the quern stone, a small hand-powered millstone served the purpose
to grind grain for the family. For $10 in materials students can
make up a concrete quern stone that will actually grind grain! |
Smelt Your Own Iron
|
Although it may seem a difficult task, producing a raw iron "bloom"
from ore is not that difficult. For a day's work
and about $200 in materials, students may build a smelting
furnace from materials readily available
from the local building center. |
|
| Mill Technology |
Steven Walton & Robert Rich |
| Web of Trades |
(medieval and colonial America) board game Robert Rich |
| Grain to Bread |
A card game on sequence of processes - Peter Halapatz |
| |
|
|
| Computer |
|
| Teachers's Guides |
|
Larger projects
The
Post Mill
Steven Walton, working with freshman architectural and design students,
built a half-scale replica of a late medieval/colonial post mill at
PSU. Extensive how-to documentation and research will be available.
Prof. Walton will work with Master Teacher Fred Lutkus, builder of the
Viking Boat and the Medieval Cart, to develop appropriate plans.
Viking
Sled Project
Although this project falls outside the scope of this specific grant,
it is an excellent example of getting students at the secondary level
interested in hand-on activities involving medieval technology.
The general motivations and ideas here could easily be extended
to almost any reconstruction project.
Ned Eisenhuth of Minersville Area High School, one of the principal
instigators of this project has worked on a Viking boat, a medieval
cart, and on other historic reconstructions and their creations
are now on display at museums around the world. He offers the following
thoughts on this utility of such a project:
