ancient aliens in the classroom
Ancient Aliens! I have managed to avoid ever having to discuss the notion that maybe the aliens built the pyramids, because none of my students have ever raised it - even in jest - in any of my classes.
Until now. And I blame the media and Netflix.
As a passionate follower (that could be read as stalker?!) of several awesome archaeologists (Dr Sarah Parcak, Dr Kara Cooney, Dr Serena Love, Dr Chloe Duckworth), I regularly see them respond to outlandish claims that aliens influenced human technology and development and even provide us with certain items. Then, the other day in class, a student said they had watched a show on Netfix (I’m naming and shaming) and it said that the aliens were involved with the building of the pyramids and they had evidence to prove it. “Will we be able to choose this as an assignment option?”
NO. was my reply.
But this got me thinking about how and why my students are now asking about this in class. Clearly they are exposed to these crazy ideas through tv and social media, but why is it gaining so much traction? I turned to my favourite archaeologists to see what they were saying about all this alien goo ga!
Shout out to Dr Chloe Duckworth (Newcastle University) for her awesome vlog about this very issue. Dr Duckworth suggests that despite having evidence based information at our fingertips, people seem unwilling to read beyond the sensational headlines. They won’t challenge outlandish ideas by seeking out free academic material that not only debunks these theories, but links the correct answer to clear evidence. Dr Duckworth uses a fabulous example of Tutankhamun’s dagger to highlight her point. She shows how a few ridiculous headlines meant that the truth was lost to fiction. It is a great example to show students the importance of checking your facts and assessing the intention of media outlets when they report archaeological findings.
Dr Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) is a strong opposer of the various ancient aliens platforms, calling the proponents racist for their suggestions that ancient peoples could not have “…built these amazing monuments themselves.” (New Yorker article) She wages a fierce war on Twiitter against those guilty of spreading such trash by highlighting that experts have been working in the field of archaeology for centuries and there is no evidence for extra-terrestrial interference.
So why are my students engaging with the material? Perhaps this is the long term damage of all the Hollywood blockbusters like Transformers, Pacific Rim, Star Trek, The Avengers. How do children determine fact from fiction when what they see before them seems so real and nowhere are they being told any different? Madness, I hear you say? I once had a student tell me that if an asteroid strike was imminent, then we could just blow it up like in the movie Armageddon. Or the time a student asked if she could research the role of Wonder Woman in WW2 - she had just been to see the film. Or, I didn’t know that we already had the technology to live on Mars! (I guess they had just watched The Martian) While these ideas can be debunked and addressed in the classroom, what about adults? Are they lapping up Ancient Aliens as we speak?
So what can we do as teachers to tackle this sort of #fakenews? It is a great opportunity to engage students in critical thiking activities relating to media. Here are some articles I have read about teaching critical thinking:
I now have a folder in my online learning platform all about this fake news and aliens stuff. Im not sure how I feel about that yet, but I guess it is a sign of the modern world? Let me know what your experiences have been.
Go forth and conquer.
