Using "material culture" - things made by people - helps students to understand the world today and in the past.  Objects offer a different kind of  knowledge than written and oral sources. Objects, three dimensional forms of color and texture, may be expressions of need, practicality,  art, customs, culture, religion,  ingenuity, luxury, and humor.

Objects fill in the gaps of text books and supply a one-on-one sensory experience with a person, period, or event from the past.  Use objects to teach across the
curriculum in the classroom and at historic sites, museums, and other places where collections of artifacts and objects offer you and your students the opportunity to "read" and learn from things created and used by  people.