G2. Primary Sources Overview
Focus
Primary sources enhance the learning process by allowing students to
construct their own understandings of people, events, and ideas.
Students can uncover, discover, and reflect on content and their
conceptions of such through inquiry, investigation, research and
analysis. Introducing and using primary sources leads to active
learning and development of critical thinking, reasoning, and problem
solving. As students work with primary sources, they have the
opportunity to do more than just absorb information; they can also
analyze, evaluate, recognize bias and contradiction, and weigh the
significance of evidence presented by the source.
Rationale
Primary sources are the building blocks of history. These traces
of the human past include ideals, customs, institutions, languages,
literature, material products, and the physical remains of various
people. Primary sources are not limited to printed documents such
as letters, newspapers, diaries and poems. Artifacts (art,
pottery, articles of clothing, tools and food), places (ecosystems,
dwellings, and other buildings and structures), sounds (music, stories,
and folklore), and images (paintings, photographs, videos/movies) can
also be considered primary sources.
To many students, history is seen as a series of facts, dates, and
events usually packaged as a textbook. The use of primary sources can
change this view. As students use primary sources they begin to view
their textbook as only one historical interpretation and its author as
an interpreter of evidence, not as a purveyor of truth. Students
begin to understand that such generalizations represent an
interpretation of past events, but not necessarily the only
interpretation. They become aware that the text has a point of view
that does not make it incorrect but that does render it subject to
question. Primary sources force students to realize that any account of
an event, no matter how impartially presented it appears to be, is
essentially subjective.
By using primary sources, students will participate in the process of
history. They will debate with teachers and classmates about the
interpretation of the sources. They will challenge others' conclusions
and seek out evidence to support their own. The classroom will become a
lively arena in which students test and apply important analytical
skills.
Purpose
• Expose students to multiple perspectives on great
issues of the past and present
• Engage in asking questions, thinking critically,
making intelligent inferences, and developing reasoned explanations and
interpretations of events and issues in the past and present.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
• Become aware that all written history reflects an
author's interpretation of past events
• Examine the role of primary source documents
• Evaluate a primary source document and its
historical significance
• Interpret primary source documents in historical
context
• Demonstrate understanding of patterns of change and
continuity in the history of Canada
• Identify unique qualities of different types of
primary sources
• Interpret, analyze, and evaluate primary and
secondary sources related to core historical themes and topics
• Create questions for investigation related to core
historical themes and specific time periods
• Develop original conclusions which illustrate
connections between core historical themes and topics
• Refine writing and presentation skills using oral
and visual communication tools and techniques
• Analyze documents, records, and data (such as
artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers,
historical accounts, etc.)
• Evaluate the authenticity, authority, and
credibility of sources
• Formulate historical questions and defend findings
based on inquiry and interpretations
• Develop perspectives of time and place, including
the construction of various time lines of events, periods, and
personalities in Canadian history
• Communicate findings orally, in brief analytical
essays, and in a comprehensive paper
Using Primary Sources
Through primary sources students confront two essential facts in
studying history. First, the record of historical events reflects the
personal, social, political, or economic points of view of the
participants. Second, students bring to the sources their own biases,
created by their own personal situations and the social environments in
which they live. As students use these sources, they realize that
history exists through interpretation--and tentative interpretation at
that.
Primary sources fascinate students because they are real and they are
personal; history is humanized through them. Using original sources,
students touch the lives of the people about whom history is written.
They participate in human emotions and in the values and attitudes of
the past. These human expressions provide history with color and
excitement and link students directly to its cast of characters.
Interpreting historical sources helps students to analyze and evaluate
contemporary sources--newspaper reports, television and radio programs,
and advertising. By using primary sources, students learn to recognize
how a point of view and a bias affect evidence, what contradictions and
other limitations exist within a given source, and to what extent
sources are reliable. Essential among these skills is the ability to
understand and make appropriate use of many sources of information.
Development of these skills is important not only to historical
research but also to a citizenship where people are able to evaluate
the information needed to maintain a free society.
Where to Find Primary Sources
To introduce students to primary sources, you might begin with
materials that they themselves possess, such as birth certificates,
social security cards, passports, or drivers' licenses. What do these
sources tell us about the individuals and the society in which they
live? How might these sources be used by historians? Consider how
school, employment, medical, and family records could be used to
develop generalizations about twentieth-century student life.
Beyond personal records, there are a variety of other sources
available. Where can you locate documentation on your neighborhood or
community? Your sources can be both governmental and private: Federal
census figures, newspapers, local government files, personal diaries,
and interviews with long-time residents. In most cities and towns,
local historical groups, preservation societies, and museums serve as
excellent starting points for classes locating documentary materials
about local communities. On the provincial level, historical societies,
archives, and museums are valuable depositories for useful primary
materials. Many of these agencies offer specific programs for high
school students, and many would welcome suggestions for joint projects.
Local resources and teacher imagination are enough. When students and
teachers participate together in the exciting and evolving process of
historical inquiry, returns, in terms of knowledge, skills and
interest, can be great and lasting.
Adapted Source: http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/raw.html
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