Seventh Grade Project: Primary and Secondary Sources



Amount of Time Needed

One fifty-minute class period.


Material Needed

Computers with internet access, a projector connected to a computer with internet access, a screen for the projector, pens, and notebook paper.


Objectives

  1. Distinguish between primary and secondary sources and describe how each kind of source is used in interpreting history.

Procedure

  1. The instructor should give a brief demonstration to the digital scrapbook, with a focus on how to flip through and search the scrapbook. Time should be spent exploring the various items of interest to the class.
  2. The students should divide into smaller groups.
  3. Each group should be assigned one of the following three objects to examine in the scrapbook:

    4. Toll House Restaurant Matchbook
    Program from Newton Methodist Episcopal Church
    Simmons YWCA pamphlet

    Each item may be assigned to more than one group.

  4. Each group should use a computer with internet access to explore the scrapbook and their object.
  5. While exploring the scrapbook the students should record their group’s answers to the discussion questions below.
  6. The class should meet back together and discuss answers to the questions, and the scrapbook in general.

Discussion Questions

  1. List the facts provided in the scrapbook about each location. (This may include such things as what Bettie did at each location, notes she wrote about each location, and others if she mentions doing something else near the location.)
  2. List what you would like to know about the location. (This may include its location, and why it no longer exists.)
  3. List how you would find additional information about the location (This may include using internet search engines, maps, or newspapers).
  4. Looking at the answers list from Question 3, identify which of the sources are primary sources.
  5. Looking at the answers list from Question 3, identify which of the sources are secondary sources.
  6. Are some of the sources more reliable than others?
  7. How is the scrapbook a reliable source, how is it not reliable?

Download pdf of lesson plan.