Turn Any Assignment Immersive: A Worked Example

From my faculty workshop, “Turn Your Curriculum Into an Immersive Experience” — a worked example, start to finish.

Learning goals:

Data collection and scientific observation — Students practice systematic recording of physical evidence using structured categories (material type, biodegradability, weight, artifact class), building skills in methodical documentation and classification.

Understanding archaeological reasoning — The assignment teaches how archaeologists draw inferences from material remains. Students learn key concepts like assemblage, behavioral processes (acquisition, manufacture, use, discard), and the difference between use-related and transposed primary context — and why that distinction matters for interpretation.

Critical thinking about evidence — Through the analysis questions, students confront the limits of what physical evidence can tell us. They’re asked to consider how multiple contributors to a trash bin complicate interpretation, whether co-located items were actually used together, and what challenges arise when trying to reconstruct behavior from refuse alone.

Connecting past and present — By applying archaeological methods to their own kitchen garbage, students bridge the gap between abstract archaeological theory and lived experience, making the discipline’s core logic tangible and personal.

Self-reflection on consumption — The final prompt (“Did you learn anything NEW about your diet?”) pushes students to turn the analytical lens on themselves, using the exercise as a tool for awareness about personal consumption patterns, waste habits, and material culture.

In short, the assignment uses household trash as a hands-on lab for learning how archaeologists think — how they collect, classify, and cautiously interpret material evidence while remaining aware of the many factors that can complicate those interpretations.

Intro

The student will be spawned in a kitchen, an empty trash can, and the main UI screen showing the text ” Welcome to the Garbology and Archaeology Exercise.” Voiceover: Welcome to the Garbology and Archaeology Exercise. The button says “Enter”.

After the student hit the Enter button,

The main UI screen shows the text ” Activity One: Collecting Data.” Voiceover: Activity One: Collecting Data”.

After the voiceover finishes,

The main UI screen shows the text ” Please document everything thrown away over 24 hours.” Voiceover: Please document everything thrown away over 24 hours.

After the voiceover finishes,

TimeLapse

The entire scene goes dark, with only the background sound effect. SFX: [Kitchen sounds: eating, talking, general activity]

The main UI screen shows a clock from 12 pm to 12 am, 2 times, indicating 24 hours pass.

After the clock animations (24 hours passed), the light goes back on. The food on the table was gone, and the trash can was full of trash.

The main UI screen shows the text ” Now, sort the garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable boxes. The chart will update automatically.” And Voiceover: “Now, sort the garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable boxes. The chart will update automatically.”

Then, 2 Boxes (on top of each box, there’s a UI that says, biodegradable, the other one says, non-biodegradable) will show up in front of the student - one on the right, one on the left. The student will grab the trash from the trash can and put each item in the box.

There are 2 empty UI charts (biodegradable & non-biodegradable)

Biodegradable Artifacts

Icon Item Name Number Calculation **Total

Weight**

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Non-Biodegradable Artifacts

Icon Item Name Number Calculation **Total

Weight**

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Sorting

The main UI screen shows up and asks the student, “Grab the item and put each item in the right place”. For example, a banana peel needs to be put into the biodegradable bin, and the biodegradable chart will show a banana peel icon and show the number.

If the student puts the right item into the right category, then there will be a correct sound, and the item icon and name, and the number of the item will show up in the correct chart. If it is wrong, then there will be a wrong sound effect, and the main UI screen shows up and says “Not quite, try again!”

Biodegradable Artifacts

Icon	Item Name	Number	Calculation	Total Weight
🍌	Banana Peel	X2
🥚	Egg Shell Fragments	X3
🥡	Takeaway Food Box	X1
🧻	Discarded Paper Towel	X1
🍎	Consumed Apple Core	X1
🍵	Used Tea Bag	X1
🧾	Discarded Receipt	X1
📰	Magazine Scrap	X1

Non-Biodegradable Artifacts

Icon	Item Name	Number	Calculation	Total Weight
🥤	Yogurt Container	X1
🥡	Takeaway Box Beta	X1
🍟	Snack Chips Bag	X1
🥗	Plastic Salad Container	X1
🌯	Clumped Plastic Wrap	X1
🍾	Glass Bottles (Alpha & Beta)	X2
🥫	Soda Cans (Alpha, Beta & Gamma)	X3
🪥	Spent Toothpaste Tube	X1
🖊️ *	Fractured Ballpoint Pen**	*X1**

Once the student finishes filling out the form (sorting everything correctly), the main UI will show “Great job! Next, place each item on the scale to weigh it.” Voiceover: “Great job!”Next, place each item on the scale to weigh it.”

Weight items

The student needs to put each item from those 2 boxes (bins) on the Scale (game object), and there will be a UI showing the number of grams of the item with the sound effect. And the chart will show the Calculation and Total Weight. If there are any errors, there will be an error sound.

Once the student finishes the task, the main UI will show “You did it! Activity complete.” Voiceover: “You did it! Activity complete.”

Biodegradable Artifacts

Icon	Item Name	Number	Calculation	Total Weight
🍌	Banana Peel	X2	100 grams x2 = 200 (grams)	200 (g)
🥚	Egg Shell Fragments	X3	6 grams x3 = 18 (grams)	18 (g)
🥡	Takeaway Food Box	X1	30 grams x1 = 30 (grams)	30 (g)
🧻	Discarded Paper Towel	X1	5 grams x1 = 5 (grams)	5 (g)
🍎	Consumed Apple Core	X1	40 grams x1 = 40 (grams)	40 (g)
🍵	Used Tea Bag	X1	2 grams x1 = 2 (grams)	2 (g)
🧾	Discarded Receipt	X1	1 grams x1 = 1 (grams)	1 (g)
📰	Magazine Scrap	X1	5 grams x1 = 5 (grams)	5 (g)

Non-Biodegradable Artifacts

Icon	Item Name	Number	Calculation	Total Weight
🥤	Yogurt Container	X1	15 grams x1 = 15 (grams)	15 (g)
🥡	Takeaway Box Beta	X1	35 grams x1 = 35 (grams)	35 (g)
🍟	Snack Chips Bag	X1	5 grams x1 = 5 (grams)	5 (g)
🥗	Plastic Salad Container	X1	20 grams x1 = 20 (grams)	20 (g)
🌯	Clumped Plastic Wrap	X1	3 grams x1 = 3 (grams)	3 (g)
🍾	Glass Bottles (Alpha & Beta)	X2	200 grams x2 = 400 (grams)	400 (g)
🥫	Soda Cans (Alpha, Beta & Gamma)	X3	15 grams x3 = 45 (grams)	45 (g)
🪥	Spent Toothpaste Tube	X1	20 grams x1 = 20 (grams)	20 (g)
🖊️ *	Fractured Ballpoint Pen**	*X1** *	10 grams x1 = 10 (grams)**	*10 (g)**