What makes a source primary or secondary? Middle schoolers read a definition of each term before exploring different examples and applying their knowledge to a research project.

Concepts

primary source analysis, primary sources, secondary source analysis, secondary sources, historical research

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Include in a social studies or language arts department meeting to discuss ideal research practices for students within the department
• Have learners come up with modern examples of primary and secondary sources, including retweets and quoted captions

Classroom Considerations

• Consider reformatting the exit tickets or projecting them onto the board to avoid printing with a lot of color
• The scenarios are color-coded based on their primary or secondary status; print in black and white to obscure the answers and use the original copy as the answer key

Pros

• Aligned to the TEKS standards for middle schoolers
• Clearly delineates the difference between primary and secondary sources, which can be challenging for some learners
• Versatile for multiple types of research projects
• Includes graphic organizers and exit tickets

Cons

• None

Common Core

RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.2 RH.6-8.9 RH.6-8.10