The Grandparent/Elder Project

Learning Twentieth Century History: The Grandparent/Elder Project

Student Introduction

The Grandparent (Significant Elder) Project will lead you from investigations of primary and secondary sources, and an interview with your grandparent or elder, to an understanding of twentieth century history. In the process, you will examine newspapers, photographs, sound recordings, and documents and gather information. You will also create a primary source (the transcript of the interview), a secondary source (the research paper), and a focused history research paper.

The underlying thesis behind this project is the idea that each person, no matter how seemingly insignificant, contributes to the pool of the world's story. Each person fits into the history of his or her time. Each person is affected by what happens and in turn leaves his or her mark upon the world.

Your research paper will focus on a topic or theme of interest that emerges from the grandparent/elder interview. You will select the topic for your paper and research it in depth. You will write about your grandparent/elder's individual role in history, how that history affected your grandparent, and how your grandparent influenced the history of the twentieth century.

In addition to conducting a formal interview and writing a research paper, you will teach your class that portion of twentieth century history on which you have become an expert. The entire class will assemble a timeline of twentieth century events and people. The timeline will include events and topics in the lives of the grandparents/elders and items from the topics investigated by the class members.

You should keep a folder in which you place all the assignments, notes, and materials of this project. Notes and materials will be reused at different times during the Grandparent/Elder Project.

In this project, you will:

1. Study newspapers to gain a sense of the mood of the time.
2. Learn how to interview.
3. Analyze photographs and other primary sources to broaden understanding and develop research skills.
4. Research and create a paper.
5. Use the information you have gathered to create a Web page timeline.

1. Newspaper Study
2. Analyzing an Interview from the American Memory collections
3. Conducting an Interview with a Grandparent/Elder
4. Studying Photographs
5. Studying a Life History or Studying Documents
6. 60 Minutes in Gees Bend Instructions
7. Studying Sound Recordings
8. Conducting and Presenting Research
9. General Suggestions for Research Paper
10. Research Paper Student Assessment