An excursion to a graveyard may seem a crazy thing to want to do with your students! But the number of data collection activities that can be done there , especially cross curriculum activities, are outstanding. Add to that that almost every town has a graveyard that you can visit makes them a perfect place to learn some science, math, history and more.
Some things to consider:
- Students need to be aware that for many people graveyards are sacred places. They need to be respectful, quiet (no yelling or shouting), keep to the pathways, don’t walk, stand or climb on any monuments/graves etc
- You should seek permission from the managers of the graveyard prior to your visit.
- If you arrive and a ceremony is taking place, you will need to move to a part of the graveyard out of site of that ceremony, or even abandon your trip. It is easy to ask the manager when you seek permission if any ceremonies are scheduled for the date you want to visit.
- Some graveyards are very small – just a handful of graves. Others are huge (some can contain 10,000 graves or more). When you collect data, you should set a number of datapoints to collect – 20 to 50 is a good number (depending on the age and ability of your students).
Data that you can collect (just some examples)
Math
The age of the gravestone (the date of death)
The ages of the people buried (Birth date – death date)
The gender of the people buried.
Languages
Any inscriptions beyond the persons data ie sayings, poems etc
Any non-english inscriptions – and if so, what languages
Art
Any symbology – what symbols are carved not he stones ie angles, books, ships, guns etc
History
What was the average age of people buried?
Can you see any trends related to pandemics etc (Spanish Flu etc)
How many people were related?
Science
What the are different stones made from? Marble, granite, slate, metal, wood. How many of each type? Compare those age the age of the stones – any trends?
Can you read the inscriptions? How easily? Compare to age of stones or type of stone.
(GEOetc Members have full access to the Gravestone Project – where students can participate in a citizen science projects to collect data on the weathering of marble gravestones)
Geography
How are the stones orientated? ie facing east, west etc?
Where could have the stones come from? Are they local or imported?
Who made the stones (sometimes also carved into the stones)? Do they still operate?
There are probably many more ideas that you can come up with – especially local stories that you want to use to connect to your students.