Using Primary Sources Springboards

to HistoricalResearch:Skills forthe21st Century

Sally M. Dobyns, Ph.D. sdobyns@icloud.com

IAG 2015

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DETECTIVES DEVELOP EARLY IN

LIFE

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Using Primary Sources as Springboards to Historical Research_Dobyns_IAG 2015

We teach a subject not to produce little living libraries on that subject, but rather to get a student to think mathematically for himself, to consider matters as an historian does, to take part in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowledge is a process, not a product.

Jerome Bruner, 1966 The Process of Education: Towards a Theory of Instruction

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Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order thinking skills.

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Students need more than a large information base to understand their ever-changing world. They need to master disciplinary thinking. To thrive, young people must develop the capacity to think like experts.

(Mansilla & Gardner, “Disciplining the Mind,” Educational Leadership, February 2008, pp. 14-19)

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Using Primary Sources as Springboards to Historical Research_Dobyns_IAG 2015

Jefferson’s portable desk

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Memorizin’ Mo

Mo memorized the dictionary

But just can’t seem to find a job

Or anyone who wants to marry

Someone who memorized the

dictionary.

Shel Silverstein

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Using Primary Sources as Springboards to Historical Research_Dobyns_IAG 2015

Carnival mask

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Basically, what I’ve been trying to do for thirty years is to satisfy my own curiosity...

Dr. Carl A Brasseaux (2005) Cultural historian & preeminent scholar on Francophone Louisiana

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Lincoln’s Last Worn Top Hat

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We don’t outright invent history, but often it is made by the questions we ask.

Joshua Wolf Shenk, historian & eminent scholar on Abraham Lincoln

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IAG 2015_Historical Research_Dobyns HO - December 7, 2015

Using Primary Sources as Springboards to Historical Research_Dobyns_IAG 2015

• Engage students as historians! We cannot do this if we use only secondary sources.

• The facts are only significant to the extent that we require students to use them. Utilization of the facts makes them meaningful & memorable.

Arthur Ashe’s racquet

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Ebenezer Heath

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It really is about the questions!

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TEACHING STUDENTS TO CONDUCT HISTORICAL RESEARCH: FOCUS ON THINKING_DOBYNS

• Primary Sources: Totally open to one’s own questions and interpretations

• Secondary Sources: Someone else’s interpretations driven by someone else’s questions (but still highly important)

How do we make sure young people know the difference between them?

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George Washington Carver

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Name 5 Americans who are no longer living that you believe ALL 3rd graders in the U. S. know about. You are so sure, that you’d bet $5 on this!

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IAG 2015_Historical Research_Dobyns HO - December 7, 2015

Using Primary Sources as Springboards to Historical Research_Dobyns_IAG 2015

George Washington Carver

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Name 5 Americans who are no longer living that you believe ALL 3rd graders in the U. S. know about. You are so sure, that you’d bet $5 on this!

In what ways have ALL 3rd graders in the U. S. learned about these people?

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Local history (Kent, Connecticut) has documented that George Washington had an accident at Bull's Bridge in 1781. What happened has never been told in detail, but one thing is clear: one of his horses, perhaps his own mount, fell into the raging Housatonic River. One exciting bit of confirmation appears in George Washington's own expense account for March 3, 1781. The first travel expense of the day noted: getting a horse out of Bull's Bridge Falls, $215.

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•TEACHING STUDENTS TO CONDUCT HISTORICAL RESEARCH: SKILLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY/Sally M. Dobyns, Ph. D.

Jefferson Banner

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Artifact (or Photo) Analysis

•Examine artifact carefully

•List attributes

•Brainstorm & list possible uses

•Evaluate list for most reasonable explanation of item

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Critical and Creative Thinking

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Recommended

• Eyewitness to America: 500 Years of America in the Words of Those Who Saw It Happen, D. Colbert (Ed.)

• After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection, J. W. Davidson & M. H. Lytle

• Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children, D. M. Lawson

• The Historian’s Toolbox: A Student’s Guide to the Theory and Craft of History, by R.C. Williams

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For encouraging Family History

• The Cow-Tail Switch. From The Cow-tail Switch and Other West African Stories, H. Courlander & G. Herzog (Eds.)

• Agatha’s Feather Bed: Not Just Another Wild Goose Story, C.Deedy

• The Worry Stone, M. Dengler

• Something from Nothing, P. Gilman

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For encouraging Family History

• Tibet Through the Red Box, P. Sis

• Momma, Where Are You From?, M. Bradby

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For old photo used in IAG session

Inventors and Discoverers: Changing Our World, Elizabeth Newhouse (Ed.), National Geographic Society, August 2000.

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Highly Recommended Resources for Primary Source Materials

★ Jackdaw Publications (primary source materials of all kinds): www.jackdaw.com

★ Library of Congress (for Teachers): www.loc.gov/teachers/

★ National Archives and Records Administration (Teachers’ Resources): www.archives.gov/education/

★ Teaching Tolerance (Teacher Kits w/wonderful primary source materials): www.teachingtolerance.org

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