Chapter 4 Accessing Primary Sources to Enhance Critical Thinking Dorothy Galanaugh Spencer Homan-Hepner Brittany Rimes Matt Samsel

Teaching the Skills to Assess Primary Sources

Primary Sources What are primary sources? Archives (old letters and documents) Students issues with deciphering archival information The teacher’s role

Perspective and Database Search Skills Language and Perspectives of organizations “Trial of Tears” vs. Indian removal Database search skills Ex. Ebscohost and Proquest Biases and Subtleties of words

Visual Literacy What is visual literacy? Distinguishing fact from fiction Ex: Comparing books to movies VS.

Using Primary Sources National Archives and Records Administration NARA: Independent federal agency which houses all permanently valuable federal records –Declaration Of Independence –Records of Supreme Court Decisions –Copyrights –Census Records Allows students the opportunity to experience history first hand. Brings life to facts which otherwise may have been nothing but black and white letters to students. Gets students excited about what they are learning

●Archival Research Catalog ●Part of the Digital Classroom section of the Archives ●Encourages students to discover something seemingly unexplainable and dig until they can explain it. ○George HW Bush Naval Pilot?? A Few Other Purposes….

●Not only can provide students with excellent source material, but also provides interactive activities for teachers. ●The archives also has suggestions for activities to do with your students. ○Lesson Plans ○DOCS TEACH

Thinking critically about primary source material Generating questions to evaluate ● What was the author/creator’s intent? ● What type of material is the source? o e.g. letter, article, audio, video ● What is the context? o e.g. historical events, prior materials ● What is the author’s bias? o e.g. emotions, beliefs, group affiliations ● Is there confirming/refuting material?

Thinking critically about primary source material I dentifying information sources ● What resources are available to interpret the primary source material? o Archives  Find other relevant primary source materials o Organizations  Get guidance from relevant organizations

Thinking critically about primary source material Other resources ● Student-generated data o Surveys  Use Google Forms to create, distribute, and collect responses  Requires some knowledge of statistical sampling o Experiments  Perform and record data  Requires some knowledge of experimental techniques ● Experts  Find people who are experienced/specially trained

E-Venture: Kennedy vs. Nixon Debate

E-Venture Debate Activity Three groups of students examine the 3 rd Kennedy-Nixon debate One group uses a video, one group uses an audio recording, one group uses the debate transcript Each group will present their examinations of the debate to the rest of the class based off of their specific tools

Video Group

Transcript Group

Audio Group

Presentation Each group develops a report that will be posted on the class website Each group develops a flow chart for evaluating the debate After presentations, the class formulates a hypothesis regarding why each group has determined what they did about the debate Class discusses the influencing factors that each candidate has to maintain credibility and connect with an audience

NARA Worksheets Primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States

Professional Growth Opportunity What is the right balance between giving students freedom to explore the Web for research and providing them with structure and guidance? What is the role of the teacher in helping students to make meaning of primary source material?

Thank you!