Primary and Secondary Sources Teacher Resources

Your home-school, Sunday school, or private Christian school students can build critical thinking and textual analysis skills by taking a look at Ten Commandments. They use this instructional activity to analyze and break down textual...

Students examine the use of primary sources. They read and discuss excerpts from the "Diary of Anne Frank," write journal entries, identify examples of altruism from the book, write an essay, and complete a worksheet.

Young sleuths don their trench coats, tip their fedoras, and grab their notepads to investigate one of four famous unsolved mysteries. After examining multiple primary and secondary sources related to their cold case, they propose a...

Young geographers travel back through time with primary source and map analysis and envision Captain John Smith's arrival at the Chesapeake Bay. 

The end was just the beginning. The period immediately after the end of World War II and the Holocaust is often called "The Return to Life" as survivors looked to reunite and recreate broken families and shattered lives. A two-lesson...

What does social security reveal about the political and social culture of the 1930s? After beginning with a brief introductory video on the impact of the Great Depression and how various Americans, such as Huey Long and Francis...

What was the most beneficial policy for nineteenth-century African Americans: to stay in the United States and work for freedom, or to immigrate to a new place and build a society elsewhere? Your young historians will construct an...

Using video testimony, primary source documents that detail international agreements, and structured discussions, learners consider the precarious position of children during the Holocaust and other international conflicts, and how to...

Young historians examine primary sources, including diaries, poems, and photographs, to consider the conditions in the ghettos and how they fit into the escalation of the Third Reich's plot against the Jewish people. 

Why did the United States choose to invade Cuba in 1898? As part of a 3-day lesson, your young historians will first develop working hypotheses to answer this question, then work with a variety of historical primary source documents that...

Scholars know him for his role in the American Revolution, but Ben Franklin was also a journalist and printer. Learners investigate his standards for what was fit to print using primary sources—including writings where Franklin explains...

Classes look at and analyze primary source images to explore the differences between the colonial regions during the Revolutionary era. They break into groups to tackle each region and then present their findings to the class. A final...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Seventh graders review the differences between primary and secondary sources. They are told that the Father Margil illustration can be used as a primary source. Students define the terms "assimilation" and "diversity." They use...

A picture really can speak a thousand words—no matter how old! Scholars become history detectives as they learn how to analyze historical photos and evidence to uncover the past. The fun hands-on activity makes history come alive through...

Eugenics philosophy takes survival of the fittest to a whole new level. With a research-focused instructional activity, young scientists examine the history of the eugenics movement and its impact on society. Pupils engage with a video...

Knowing what questions to ask and knowing how to organize information found is often difficult for young researchers. Consider using this worksheet to help guide a revolutions research project. Researchers are first directed to examine...

Sometimes all kids need is a little guided practice and then they can be on their way. They can use an analysis instructional activity to help them analyze a primary or secondary source document. They answer several questions describing...

Good primary resources, offering different perspectives on important issues and events, are hard to find. A packet of 12 primary source images, videos, audio recordings, records, and newspaper articles related to the 1960s civil rights...

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin has generated controversy since its publication in 1852. Here is a set of 12 primary sources that capture the controversies of the times while adding dimension and depth to any study of...

Maya Angelou's work reflects her passion for life, civil rights, and justice for all. A collection of 12 primary sources provide scholars with insight into this amazing woman. The set includes photographs, articles, recordings of...

Escaping Enslaved people attempting to escape didn't need a ticket to ride on the Underground Railroad. Here is a packet of primary sources that reveal the kind of courage and determination they did need to face the challenges to gain...

Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...

Primary source analysis is a great way to bring history to life. Learners examine a series of personal inventories taken from Southern white males who died during the Civil War era. They analyze the documents to determine the social and...