World History
Using Primary Sources on the Internet To Teach and Learn History. Primary sources are a good way to teach history. This paper gives some ideas for how to use the Internet to do this.
From the site:
The Internet enables teachers to enhance the teaching and learning of history through quick and extensive access to primary sources. This Digest discusses: (1) types and uses of primary sources, (2) using the Internet to obtain primary sources, and (3) exemplary World Wide Web sites providing primary sources.
TYPES AND USES OF PRIMARY SOURCES.
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 (Craver 1999, 8).
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.
A commonly overlooked type of primary source is historic places, the sites of significant events, which communicate the past to students in numerous ways. Historic places "speak through relationships to their settings, their plan and design, their building materials, their atmosphere and ambience, their furniture, and other objects they contain" (Harper 1997, 1).
Primary sources are keys to reconstructing and interpreting the past. Teachers and students alike might consider this adage: learning is not received; it is achieved. Introducing and using primary sources in the history classroom will almost certainly lead to active learning and development of critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving (Craver 1999, 10-12). 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 (Percoco 1998).
- Smithonian Source - Resources For Teaching American History
Smithonian Source - Resources for Teaching American History. The site exclaims, "Find teacher-selected resources that allow you to peer over the historian's shoulder and share the excitement of discovery." Despite some annoying background music and...
- When Work Is Done
When Work is Done Teaches about primary sources using photographs to compile an album of early 20th Century American leisure life. It is geared towards high school students. From the site: The main vehicle for this lesson is the web site "When Work is...
- Teaching Historical Thinking.
Teaching Historical Thinking. Students don't come to class ready to think about history. This paper examines ways that a teacher can teach historical thinking. From the site: Over the past decade, cognitive studies researcher Samuel Wineburg...
- Using Primary Sources In The Primary Grades.
Using Primary Sources in the Primary Grades. This good essay shows how primamry source material can be used successfully in primary grades. From the site: What do a stamped Christmas postcard dated 1910, a Confederate one hundred dollar bill, soda...
- Reading Like A Historian: Sourcing A Document
...
World History
Using Primary Sources on the Internet To Teach and Learn History.
Using Primary Sources on the Internet To Teach and Learn History. Primary sources are a good way to teach history. This paper gives some ideas for how to use the Internet to do this.
From the site:
The Internet enables teachers to enhance the teaching and learning of history through quick and extensive access to primary sources. This Digest discusses: (1) types and uses of primary sources, (2) using the Internet to obtain primary sources, and (3) exemplary World Wide Web sites providing primary sources.
TYPES AND USES OF PRIMARY SOURCES.
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 (Craver 1999, 8).
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.
A commonly overlooked type of primary source is historic places, the sites of significant events, which communicate the past to students in numerous ways. Historic places "speak through relationships to their settings, their plan and design, their building materials, their atmosphere and ambience, their furniture, and other objects they contain" (Harper 1997, 1).
Primary sources are keys to reconstructing and interpreting the past. Teachers and students alike might consider this adage: learning is not received; it is achieved. Introducing and using primary sources in the history classroom will almost certainly lead to active learning and development of critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving (Craver 1999, 10-12). 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 (Percoco 1998).
- Smithonian Source - Resources For Teaching American History
Smithonian Source - Resources for Teaching American History. The site exclaims, "Find teacher-selected resources that allow you to peer over the historian's shoulder and share the excitement of discovery." Despite some annoying background music and...
- When Work Is Done
When Work is Done Teaches about primary sources using photographs to compile an album of early 20th Century American leisure life. It is geared towards high school students. From the site: The main vehicle for this lesson is the web site "When Work is...
- Teaching Historical Thinking.
Teaching Historical Thinking. Students don't come to class ready to think about history. This paper examines ways that a teacher can teach historical thinking. From the site: Over the past decade, cognitive studies researcher Samuel Wineburg...
- Using Primary Sources In The Primary Grades.
Using Primary Sources in the Primary Grades. This good essay shows how primamry source material can be used successfully in primary grades. From the site: What do a stamped Christmas postcard dated 1910, a Confederate one hundred dollar bill, soda...
- Reading Like A Historian: Sourcing A Document
...