Fundamentals of Primary Source Instruction
Goal
Participants gain strategies for using primary sources to help students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and build content knowledge.
Objectives
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- Justify conclusions about whether a source is primary or secondary depending upon the time or topic under study
- Describe examples of the benefits of teaching with primary sources
- Analyze a primary source using Library of Congress tools
- Access teaching tools and primary sources from loc.gov/teachers
- Identify key considerations for selecting primary sources for instructional use (for example, student needs and interests, teaching goals, etc.)
- Access primary sources and teaching resources from loc.gov for instructional use
- Analyze primary sources in different formats
- Analyze a set of related primary sources in order to identify multiple perspectives
- Facilitate a primary source analysis using Library of Congress tools
- Demonstrate how primary sources can support at least one teaching strategy (for example, literacy, inquiry-based learning, historical thinking, etc.)
- Create a primary source-based activity that helps students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and construct knowledge