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Primary Sources to Help Students Develop Arguments and Empathy (Discussion)

Krysti Bakelaar

Maritere's talk featured a primary source assignment she gave her 8th grade students that naturally increased engagement with the primary source. My favorite aspect of this project is how she took it through all of the stages of Bloom's, ending with a synthesized (and incredibly fun) demonstration of their learning. She concludes with her thoughts on revising this project, particularly this question she'd ask of her students: What questions do you still have about these perspectives? Or: What perspective is still missing?

I have had some difficulty in the past incorporating primary sources in such a way as to maintain high interest and engagement. What are some similar projects you all have incorporated into your curriculum to build engagement in the sources as well as empathy for historical perspectives?

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  • +4

    Thank you so much for your kind words about the project above. I strongly support using images of artifacts to gather responses in a way that does not involve long-term projects. For example, I created…

  • in reply to Donnetta Elsasser +3

    Thank you for your comment. Yes, it is very impactful. I used it at the end of a chapter in our current textbook that contained stories which seemed to perpetuate the "happy/grateful enslaved person" / "benevolent…

  • +2

     I too found @Maritere's talk to be very interesting as well.  I was impressed with how the use of primary sources was so engaging and that students were asked for feedback so the project…

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  •  I too found @Maritere's talk to be very interesting as well.  I was impressed with how the use of primary sources was so engaging and that students were asked for feedback so the project could be improved for future learners.  I myself have had some mixed results with primary sources. One example where I had some success was when I used a Jamboard while my students were virtual last year to generate and guide a discussion about Paleolithic Art.  It wasn't easy to get students to participate in online classes but this particular lesson brought so many of them into the discussion. Another activity I used later in the year involved primary sources from the holocaust.  Students had a wide variety of documents to choose from and that allowed for most of my students to find a particular document they were interested in.  Students were then able to discuss the different perspectives from which the people who created the documents had experienced the Holocaust from. 

    I think the art activity was engaging because the visual nature of it made it accessible while the Holocaust activity allowed for student choice.  I have found that accessibility and choice are two major factors when trying to engage learners. 

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  •  I too found @Maritere's talk to be very interesting as well.  I was impressed with how the use of primary sources was so engaging and that students were asked for feedback so the project could be improved for future learners.  I myself have had some mixed results with primary sources. One example where I had some success was when I used a Jamboard while my students were virtual last year to generate and guide a discussion about Paleolithic Art.  It wasn't easy to get students to participate in online classes but this particular lesson brought so many of them into the discussion. Another activity I used later in the year involved primary sources from the holocaust.  Students had a wide variety of documents to choose from and that allowed for most of my students to find a particular document they were interested in.  Students were then able to discuss the different perspectives from which the people who created the documents had experienced the Holocaust from. 

    I think the art activity was engaging because the visual nature of it made it accessible while the Holocaust activity allowed for student choice.  I have found that accessibility and choice are two major factors when trying to engage learners. 

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