Curated OER
Worksheet for Analysis of a Written Document
In this primary source analysis worksheet, learners respond to 16 short answer questions that require them to analyze the provided historical document.
Stanford University
Lunchroom Fight II
To determine who should be suspended for a lunchroom fight, groups must source, contextualize, and corroborate the testimonies of various participants and witnesses.
Historical Thinking Matters
Rosa Parks: 1 Day Lesson
You've heard of the historical moment when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, but did you know that some historical accounts disagree on where she sat? Investigate this query with your young historians, and practice...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Revolution '67, Lesson 2: What Happened in July 1967? How Do We Know?
Even in a world in which dozens of participants and curious onlookers record every controversial event, the basic facts of what happened are often in dispute. Revolution '67, Lesson 2 explores 1967 Newark, New Jersey using an examination...
Mr. Roughton
The Travels of Marco Polo
Were the stories of Marco Polo's travels and interactions with the Mongols actually true? Using an excerpt from the book The Travels of Marco Polo, your young historians will answer guiding questions to discuss the accuracy and...
Curated OER
Activity 10: Primary and Secondary Sources
Students sort documents into primary and secondary sources and analyze their reliability. In this history research lesson, the teacher gathers a selection of document images, then discusses primary and secondary sources and their benefits.
Curated OER
Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Images of the American Revolution
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this American Revolution lesson, students examine international involvement in the war as well as major events of the war.
Stanford University
Great Plains Homesteaders
"Westward, ho!" may have been their cry in spite of the hardships. Using a series of photographs by Solomon D. Butcher of those who ventured west, class members consider what life was like in the 1800s for those who embarked on the...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
How Two Alabamians Remembered Slavery Years Later
Designed to help readers recognize the point of view of the author of a primary source documents and analyze how that point of view influences the reliability of a text, young historians examine two personal letters, one written by...
Library of Congress
The Conservation Movement at a Crossroads: The Hetch Hetchy Controversy
Should wilderness areas be preserved or managed? Class members examine primary source documents, including lecture notes, articles, essays and congressional records to better understand the Hetch Hetchy controversy that created a split...
Curated OER
Pioneering Principles: Why Character Matters
What does it mean to "be of good character"? What are the qualities that define such a person? The 1825 Colonization Law of Coahuila y Texas required that all new immigrants into Mexican Texas present documentation that they were of good...
Curated OER
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: The Novel as Historical Source
Students examine historical fiction as historical sources. In this historical fiction lesson, students analyze excerpts from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as well as Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in order...
Stanford University
Japan and America
When Commodore Matthew Perry sailed to Japan and demonstrated American naval strength, he forced the empire to engage in trade with the United States. How did this new, strong-armed relationship influence both parties? Pupils consider...
Stanford University
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first race-based restriction on immigration in American history. Why was the act passed after Chinese immigrants helped build the Transcontinental Railroad? A series of documents, including speeches and...
National Park Service
Lesson 6: Researching Contemporary Slavery
While many believe slavery ended after the American Civil War, it continues today in various forms. Using a WebQuest research project, class members investigate how the institution of slavery lives on in the modern world. Activities also...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Narrator
Stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce provide readers with an opportunity to investigate unreliable narrators. The lesson plan begins with an activity about different types of point of view and continues as scholars apply their...
Curated OER
Twain's Hannibal
Young scholars use primary resources to examine the context the writings of Mark Twain. They criticize the resources for reliability, accuracy, perspective, relevancy, and authoritativeness.
Curated OER
George Winter
Who is George Winter? Learners review knowledge of George Winter, an artist who captured images of the Trail of Tears. They distinguish the difference between primary and secondary sources and determine the reliability of a document....
Historical Thinking Matters
Spanish-American War: 1 Day Lesson
After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.
Curated OER
RAW HISTORY: USING PRIMARY SOURCES
Students analyze the ways slavery shaped social and economic life in the South after 1800, how slaves forged their own culture in the face of oppression; and the role of the plantation system in shaping slaveholders and the enslaved.
Stanford University
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a propaganda victory for those protesting British rule over the American colonies. By using images from Patriots, as well as the testimony of witnesses, scholars consider what may have happened on that fateful day...
Curated OER
Dying to be a Martyr
Students study primary source document that describe the beginnings of the Middle East conflict. They survey the connections that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have to Israel.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Gathering the Appropriate Information
Students are able to use the library and/or computer lab to research reliable information sources supporting arguments being put forward in the position paper. They are able to find examples of mission statements from various...
Curated OER
Primary/Secondary Source Activity
In this primary/secondary source worksheet, learners answer a set of 5 questions about a picture drawn in approximately 1934 of an event that took place in 1867.