PAL works with regional schools to bring archaeology into the classroom and to bring students to archaeology. PAL school programs have ranged from formal curriculum design and implementation funded by state and local grant programs, to guided tours, and stone toolmaking demonstrations.

Classroom slide presentations and hands-on demonstrations are among the most popular programs sponsored by PAL. Information about cultural resources supplements units about local history, Native American studies, geography, ecology, social studies, and earth sciences.

PAL maintains an in-house library of curriculum tools that includes publications related to New England history, archaeology, and historic preservation, as well as examples of teaching materials from across the country. PAL is recognized as a southeastern New England regional resource center for archaeological information. If you would like more information about school programs contact Alan Leveillee.

Examples of PAL's school and educational programs include:
Lambert Farm Field School
 

The Educational Programs Department of PAL took the lead in an innovative program of archaeological data recovery on a threatened National Register of Historic Places prehistoric site in Warwick, Rhode Island. The site was scheduled to be destroyed by housing development and was not protected by cultural resource management legislation. PAL entered into a creative agreement between the developers and the state to allow a two-season series of college level field schools, weekend workshops, and volunteer digs to excavate what proved to be a highly significant Woodland site.
 

Blackstone River Valley Mill House Excavation
 

The Educational Programs Department of PAL developed a field experience in archaeology, in 1998, as an element of curriculum for middle schools in the Blackstone River Valley. Funded by the National Park Service, the program integrated archaeological inquiry within The Blackstone River Valley National Historic Corridor Preservation Partnership Program and provided the public with a hands-on introduction to the past.  Student research and excavation teams from area schools helped PAL staff archaeologists excavate the backyard of a turn-of-the-century mill worker's house.  Over 600 students and their teachers, along with members of the general public, systematically recovered over 10,000 artifacts during the dig.
 
Hsu Fleming Montessori School: Visit to PAL

The Met School:  Student Intern Placement

East Alternative School: Stone Toolmaking Demonstration

Thurston Middle School: A Walking Archaeological Tour through Prehistoric Massachusetts