Thomas Hunter Middle School sixth grade student Mya Schroeder showed her social studies teacher, Leslie Hudgins, a collection of artifacts that her grandfather and uncle had accumulated over the years from oystering in the James River.Hudgins asked Ashley McCuistion, public outreach coordinator and digital curator at the Fairfield Foundation, to identify the artifacts. She took this as an opportunity to educate the students on history that hits close to home.

McCuistion dated the oldest spears and arrows as far back as 3,000 B.C.; that’s about 5,000 years ago. Using the artifacts as an example, McCuistion showed the students how shapes and sizes for spears and arrows changed over time due to changing hunting needs and circumstances.

There were also several different types of tobacco pipes in Schroeder’s family collection, dating from as early as the 1600s. McCuistion compared the changing shapes and sizes of the tobacco pipes to the constant changing of smartphones.

A collect...