Primary Sources on the Web
Teaching with primary sources is not a new idea, but the ways in which to access these valuable sources has changed dramatically with the popularization of the Internet. More and more historical collections and archives are being digitized and made available online by governments, museums, and other educational and non-profit organizations. Now it is just a matter of training educators to locate, access and utilize the vast amount of primary source materials available in digital format.
What Are Primary Sources?
Cantu (292) and Fresch (94) have found that preservice teachers often do not have a clear understanding of the definition of primary sources. Before we can teach with primary sources we must understand exactly what they are. The Library of Congress defines primary sources as “original items or records that have survived from the past, such as clothing, letters, photographs, and manuscripts” which are “part of a direct personal experience of a time or event.” To clarify and expand this general definition, Fresch provides her preservice teachers with of various types of primary source materials (93). Although the resources discussed in this paper are focused more on historical materials, it is important to realize that digitized primary sources do not have to be old. The Library of Congress has initiated the MINERVA Web Archiving Project to preserve primary source materials that are “born digital”.
Why Use Primary Sources?
Primary sources make history come alive. Instead of passive learning, students are exposed different perspectives, allowing them to become actively engaged in learning and to create their own meaning of events and issues. Using primary sources in the classroom is also...
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...eriences. I was able to learn in depth, about the extensive and agonizing journey immigrants experienced to arrive to America by reading from the primary sources which gave me a better understanding of their situations. For example, I learned that if a husband or wife died half way sea, the other person is held responsible for paying for the dead (Hollitz, 45). The pictures and maps also enhanced the way information can be interpreted through primary sources. The paintings of Puritan children clearly demonstrate their feelings and attitude. I was able to see through their uncomfortable position, life style, and virtue by observing their posture, facial expression, and the way they dress. The primary source documents turned out to be very useful in many ways that assisted me to come up with a better understanding in details with chapter 2-4 in Give Me Liberty.
The classroom in video case 42 was made up of 12 English language learners. The students were learning U.S. History content vocabulary in small, collaborative, interactive groups. The teacher used visuals – words written on a white board, a graphic organizer of the concept definitions, and a Power Point presentation with pictures and simple definitions. The teacher provided background knowledge through the use of textbooks, so the children could be successful in future history classes. The teacher used songs to assist the auditory learners in the class as well as a video to further assist the visual learners to see the concepts from the lesson in context. All of these resources were culturally appropriate as English language learners often learn best when a lesson is developed through multiple strategies and with a variety of resources.
When it comes to learning about events and people in history, nothing beats a primary source. There is information directly from the event and there are no worries about incorrect data because the author was there to witness said event. But the main problem with primary sources is the fact that it only covers part of the story. So if a book is written about, say, the concentration camps of World War II, then all that it would be about would be that persons view of the camps, not what was happening during the actually war. This is where secondary sources come in. Secondary sources are written by authors who were not involved in the event, but rather did research on said event and wrote a novel covering what they believe to be all important aspects. Secondary sources are helpful when wanting to know more than just one aspect of an event, for example, you can know what was happening with the ally powers and axis powers, rather than just one or the other. Despite not being involved in the events, secondary sources still tend to contain bias. This essay will cover the bias of the novel Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, by Edward Humes and how this either helped to prove or disprove his thesis.
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...ple by historians, as seen in the chapter, “From Rosie to Lucy” (Davidson & Lytle, 2009b). For that reason, it is apparent that the current historians are finding the relevant sources easier to access than their predecessors.
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The overall, topic for this week’s reading is Social Studies Textbooks and what is there point of view. In Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, the author makes the point that books show one-sided viewpoint of historical figures, fail to show conflict happening today, and fail to present multiple sides of an issue. The second article by David Tyack, Monuments Between Covers, talks about the idea to show that our past was full of right moments and if anything that was immoral was a small part and no big deal. Tyack points out the constant influence from political groups with different agendas fighting to influence and control what textbooks tell our countries’ children. In the last reading History Lesson by Dana Lindaman talks about the view point of American History throughout the world’s public schools’ textbooks. Overall, each of the countries diminished the role their nation played in terrible events and criticized other nations for their actions.
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...and walked home.” Collins contrasts the students’ misbehavior with the teacher’s ignorance, thus implying a relationship between the history teacher’s inability to teach his students and their ensuing misbehavior.
A primary source is a piece written at the time of the event; in addition, they’re written by someone who witnessed or experienced the event. For example, In Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he states, “16 April 1963…While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." This would be an example of a primary document since Dr. King wrote it during the civil rights movement. While, secondary sources are not a first hand account of an event; equally as important, they analyze, summarize or evaluate a primary source. For example, in “America The Essential Learning Edition, Volume 2” written by David Shi and George Tindall it states, “The Montgomery bus boycott achieved remarkable unity. For 381 days, African Americans, women and men, used carpools…” (Shi and Tindall 987). This history textbook serves as a secondary source seeing that it’s written after this time period and is summarizing the accounts of the Montgomery bus boycott. When passing new laws or even in friendly debates, it is important to look at ways history is a part of secondary sources, while secondary sources are dependent on primary
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When most people think about history they remember a boring class they took in school a long time ago, they recall memorizing important dates, taking map tests, and falling asleep while listening to a lecture. The truth is that history really is an important subject to be teaching students. History is more than just some lecture you receive in class, history lets us look back, see the good things and the bad things, it allows us to learn from our mistakes and prevent such mistakes from happening in the future. Things that happened in the past are still changing things that are happening today. History is needed for everyone, from government leaders down to individuals; everyone has learned one thing or another from history at some point in their life.