Primary and Secondary Sources Teacher Resources
Find Primary and Secondary Sources lesson plans and worksheets
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Becoming Us
The mission statement of the National Museum of American History’s Becoming US: Teaching Immigration and Migration History in the 21st Century series is to provide “educational resources for high school teachers and students to learn...
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Alexis de Tocqueville on the Tyranny of the Majority
The writings of a French diplomat and political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, offer young scholars much to think about. In the three-lesson unit, class members examine Tocqueville’s arguments about the power of the majority and...
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From the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution
The year is 2777. Fifth graders, as delegates, are tasked with drafting a new Constitution for the United States. They begin the process by reflecting on the meaning of democracy. They examine the principles of the current Constitution,...
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The Jungle, Muckrakers, and Teddy Roosevelt
Two lessons comprise "The Jungle, Muckrakers, and Teddy Roosevelt" unit module that asks middle schoolers to consider whether investigative journalism is beneficial or detrimental. The lessons focus on the evidence Upton Sinclair used to...
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2020 Election Lesson Plans
With all the hyperbole of an election year, it can be difficult to find the facts, just the facts about candidates, issues, and ballot measures. Young political scientists, with the help of 21 resources from a nonpartisan, information...
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His Soul Goes Marching On: The Life and Legacy of John Brown
His Soul Goes Marching On: The Life and Legacy of John Brown looks at an event that became an important part of United States history. The seven resources cover the raid, John Brown's life, his reactions to the event, as well as news...
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Freedom Is Coming: Songs of Freedom, Resistance, and the Underground Railroad
Young historians examine song lyrics and slave narratives to uncover the realities of life for enslaved people. The six-lesson unit looks at the way enslaved people used music to provide hope, as well as to fight against oppression....
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Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude
How does Gabriel Garcia Marquez make the magical elements in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude seem real? That is the essential question for readers of his acclaimed novel to tackle in a three-lesson unit module. Scholars begin by...
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Ben Across the Curriculum: Elementary School
Benjamin Franklin, statesman, inventor, President is the subject of a collection targeting young historians. The interdisciplinary lesson plans were originally designed to accompany the 2018 international traveling exhibition, “Benjamin...
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The Crisis of American Diplomacy, 1793–1808
The tangled web of the United States’ diplomatic alliances and foreign policy during the French Revolution comes under scrutiny in a three-resource collection. Young historians examine how Great Britain and France challenged both the...
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Middle School World History
A 22-lesson Middle School World History unit uses a unique problem-solving approach to teach tweens economic history. After reading articles that provide background information, pupils engage in activities and simulations that require...
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Before and Beyond the Constitution: What Should a President Do?
A three-lesson unit provides middle schoolers with the founding fathers' vision of what they saw as the role of the president and the executive branch of the government. Young scholars examine the Articles of Confederation, Alexander...
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American Diplomacy in World War II
The “Grand Alliance” between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union was established during World War II to counter the aggression of German and Japan. A four-resource collection looks at the differences in the members’...
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From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass's 1845 Autobiography
Frederick Douglass's autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, is the anchor text in a four-lesson unit module. High schoolers analyze how Douglass uses literary devices and...
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Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Ovid’s The Metamorphoses is the anchor text in a three-lesson unit module that asks readers to compare how Ovid recounts the creation story with how it is presented in the Book of Genesis, how point of view affects the meaning of the...
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Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce
A two-part lesson examines the works and biographies of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. Part One focuses on the authors’ narrators and asks readers to consider whether the narrators of “A Tell-Tale Heart” and “Occurrence at Owl Creek...
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Analyzing Primary Sources
Analyzing primary and secondary sources is a necessary skill for students to attain, and can be learned through interesting activities.
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Introduction to Primary Sources
Students explore the usage of primary sources, what they are and how they originate. Artifacts are compared and contrasted as part of this historical inquiry as questions are formulated and conclusions drawn.
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Examining Secondary Sources: The American Revolution
Learners who have a grasp on the events of the Revolutionary war view clips from five different films as secondary sources. They take notes on each clip thinking about historic inaccuracies. They then view parts of the film The Patriot...
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Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Scholars study a historical photograph to make predictions of what happened right after the picture was taken. They research a variety of different topics and use primary sources to answer questions about common food, fashion trends, and...
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Using Primary Sources: Wide Open Town
A picture speaks a thousand words, no matter how old! Scholars use political cartoons from the era of Prohibition and the Temperance Movement to analyze what, a primary document (in this case, a bootlegger's notebook) is telling them...
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Tintin and I: Primary and Secondary Sources
Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and Tintin? Belgian cartoonist Georges (Herge) Remi’s famous comic character launches a study of primary and secondary source material and the impact these sources have on storytelling. Class members also examine the...
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Primary Source Analysis: 95 Theses Excerpts
By reviewing and analyzing these nine selected points from Martin Luther's 95 Theses, your young historians will discern the major tenets of the revolutionary challenge made against the Catholic Church in the seventeenth century. This is...
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Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts
Connect historical text to primary sources. Researchers observe and discuss primary sources. Then, historians bring in their own personal artifacts and connect them back to their history.