Calvin Gives Local Teachers a Late Xmas Gift

January 11, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Local teachers are getting a late Christmas present from Calvin College, one
designed to teach them more about the upcoming Petra: Lost City of Stone
exhibition.

For five straight Saturdays, beginning January 15, Calvin will offer free
workshops for teachers. These workshops will help teachers figure out how to
bring Petra to their classes. And how to bring their classes to Petra.

Each workshop will be the same, so teachers need to only attend one. And, in
addition to offering the classes at no charge, Calvin also is giving all
teachers who attend a free ticket to the exhibition! The only thing teachers
have to do is pre-register (by calling 616-526-7800 and pressing option #5).
 
Local archaeologist and educator Neal Bierling will run the workshops. He is
a Calvin graduate who has worked for years as an archaeologist at Petra,
Jordan. He says the upcoming 90-minute workshops will do two things.

First, teachers will learn more about the actual Petra: Lost City of Stone
exhibition coming to Calvin in April 2005. That exhibit will sprawl over 7,000
square feet of the Prince Conference Center at Calvin (a building that will be
significantly renovated as it moves from a conference center to a
museum-quality facility) and will feature 200 exceptional objects, including
stone sculptures and reliefs, ceramics, metalwork, artworks in various media
and other priceless artifacts. All are on loan from collections in Jordan and
throughout Europe, and many are on display in the United States for the first
time in history.

Second, the sessions will educate teachers about the many educational
resources available on the Petra website (see www.calvin.edu/petra) and a
soon-to-be released virtual reality tour of the city of Petra in Jordan.

The website includes educators' guides, activities such as sifting screens,
shoebox archaeology and papyrus making, as well as all kinds of inside insights
into the world of archaeology. All of the lesson plans and activities include
documentation as to how the lesson or activity meets the Michigan curriculum
standards.

The exhibition is organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum and American Museum
of Natural History, New York under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania
Al-Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with air transportation
generously provided by Royal Jordanian.

Contact Bierling at 616-676-2380

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Received on Tue Jan 11 09:32:27 2005