PRIMARY SOURCES:FINDING AND USING IN LESSONS

Curriculum Development InstructionJuly 19, 2010

What is a Primary Source?

Sources written, created, used or owned by people who lived in a specific time period.

Source material that is closest to the person or period being studied.

First-hand accounts of events and experiences, both public and personal.

A more narrow definition…An original record created at the time a historical event occurred. (Does not include first-hand accounts created later)

Identifying a Primary Source

From the specific time period

In its entirety, unaltered

Photos: Interpretive

Reflections by a witness

Filtered through another source

Individual quotes Photos: Illustrative Reflections by

someone outside of the event

Primary Secondary

Examples of Primary Sources Commonly Used Primary Sources

Newspaper articles Government documents Photographs

Second-tier Primary Sources Advertisements/propaganda Letters/diaries Memoirs Interviews/oral histories

Benefits of Using Primary Sources Students learn to identify primary sources Students learn to read and understand sources

from another time Students learn to compare and contrast

different viewpoints Students gain a personal connection to the time

period Students learn to analyze information using

comparisons of primary and secondary sources Students learn to recognize similar sources in

their own time, reflect on the way people record information now

Introducing Primary Sources

Start with an activity, early in the school year, to familiarize students with primary sources Choose 5-10 sources from the same time period.

Have students, in groups or individually, examine the sources and identify their characteristics.

Choose a source that relates to a page in a textbook. Have students compare the information presented.

Examine the effect of technology on primary sources. Start with non-written sources, move to hand-written, to printed, to electronic, to show change over time.

Role of Primary Sources in Lesson Plans Provide content Provide context Offer varied viewpoints Hone analytical skills Launch investigations

Lesson Plan Tactics

Use documents with human interest