This is a work in progress. Please contribute
your ideas for this page.
What is a Primary
Source?
Primary or secondary source? A
simple explanation. A
historian's definition.
The Library
of Congress
The Library of Congress's Framework
for Using Primary Sources with Students is excellent. The Library's
"Student
Lesson: Primary Sources" explains primary and second sources, takes
students through a
step-by-step analysis of a primary source document to determine bias
and reliability, explores the
types of primary sources, and provides a
set of primary sources about slavery for students to analyze, using
what they've learned. A "mindwalk
activity" helps students understand primary sources by asking them
to examine the historical evidence of a day in their own lives.
Using
Primary Source Documents in the Classroom
Ohio History Association's Primary Sources for Teachers (with sample lesson
plan to introduce the idea ofprimary sources to students).
The Primary Source Network
One of the ways to make learning real and engaging to students is to immerse
them in learning that is real, says Art Wolinksy, technology director of
the Online Internet Institute. He recommends this site for teachers who
"want to develop activities that engage students by giving them real
information the sift through, analyze, manipulate and use to construct new
knowledge."
An Introduction
to Using Primary Source Artifacts
This area in the Primary Sources Network contains a combination of interactive
modules and articles designed to help you build the skills necessary to
use primary sources effectively in education. According to the site developers,
the three "Using Primary Sources" units are the start of a continuing
series which will focus on developing the skills necessary to teach with
various types of primary sources. New units will be added.
Primary
Sources for Social Studies
A college senior's page about primary sources includes a definition and
some good links.
Primary Source
Primary Source "is a resource center and network for K-12 teachers
who want to teach a more inclusive social studies." Their mission is
"to promote social studies education that is historically
accurate, culturally inclusive and explicitly concerned with racism and
other forms of discrimination." See for example the African
American and Mayan
projects.
Facing History and Ourselves: Examining
History and Human Behavior
Facing History and Ourselves is a national educational and professional
development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse
backgrounds "in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism
in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry."
Facing History provides teachers with staff development in the form of workshops,
institutes and seminars. It also offers participating teachers access to
an assortment of books, periodicals, speakers and videotapes for classroom
use.
The Primary Sources Network
The Primary Sources Network "seeks to transform teaching and learning
by utilizing primary source materials." The network is a partnership
between Michigan State University, several public school systems, the Henry
Ford Museum and others. Includes sample lessons and a collection of on-line
artifacts from early 20th Century American business and industry. Example:
pages from Sears Roebuck catalogs, circa 1915 (don't miss the misses'
and children's shoes!). Analysis of automobile ads, how they changed
over the century, and "what they actually tell us about us." JPEG
files load slowly but have lots of information.
Back to the Social Studies resource page
