In this activity, learn about five disciplinary lenses and how they can be applied to explore objects from the past. 

For this activity you will break into groups of five, and choose one object from either the Changing Language in China, or the Pottery in China activity of this resource kit to observe through one of the disciplinary lenses. 

Each group member will choose just one of the disciplinary lenses, and fill out the next annotation activity observing this object through this lens. You can use the descriptions and questions provided below to guide your observations. 

You will then export you progress and compare with your other four group members who observed the object through alternative disciplinary lenses. Make note the areas of similarity or disagreement between the information noted when observing objects through different disciplinary lenses. Also consider how ways of knowing, like through Ancestral knowledge or scientific understandings, as we looked at earlier in this resource kit, might contribute to our understandings of the objects in this kit. 

You may need to do research using appropriate secondary sources to supplement the information provided in this resource kit. Use the links in the Additional Resources section of each activity to find more contextual information about each object, or consult with your teacher about what good sources might be. 


Disciplines and the Questions they might ask: 

Economists study the production, consumption and transfer of goods and services within and across social systems. 

An art historian studies the past through art and artifacts from specific periods and geographical regions. 

A historian is someone who studies the past periods, geographical regions, or social phenomenons, usually using written records.

Anthropologists study humankind, in particular, the comparative study of human societies and cultures and their development. 

Geographers study the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these. 

Standards for A tool: Using Disciplinary Lenses

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework