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Unit III: Gathering Information from Primary Sources
Note: Unit III can be used as an independent unit.
Unit III of the Grandparent/Elder Research Project
focuses on family life in the Great Depression and models research skills
which students will use for their independent history research papers.
By making observations of different media (visual images, audio, and documents),
the students learn that there are different types of information and ways
to extract details and information.
Students use this information to formulate questions that help them to
gather data from other sources. They learn how to relate information from
one type of source to another, and how to see the connections and dissonances.
Further, the procedures and activities enable students to gather a core
of information about a topic.
| Objectives |
Students will:
- develop research skills by gathering information about a topic;
- learn how primary and secondary sources are used in the
study of history;
- practice skills of accessing, interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating photographs, audio sources, and documents;
- practice posing questions about observations made from
primary sources;
- synthesize information drawn from the primary source;
- compose reports based on data learned from the
primary sources;
- learn to narrow a topic to a focused thesis; and
- learn to select and use appropriate resources to support a focused thesis.
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| Time Required |
One to two weeks. |
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Resources |
Primary Sources
- "Dorothea
Lange's Migrant Photographs in the Farm Security Administration
Collection: An Overview," Prints
and Photographs Division.
- Gees Bend, Alabama photographs from Black-and-White
Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945.
- "Sunny
California" from Voices from the Dust Bowl, 1940-1941
- "Women
and the Changing Times." An interview with Mrs. Blount,
written by Mrs. Daisy Thompson in Augusta, Georgia and edited
by Mrs. Leila H. Harris, supervising editor of the Georgia Writers'
Project, Area 7, February 16, 1940, from American
Life Histories, 1936-1940.
Secondary Sources
See Resources page. |
| Materials |
60 Minutes
in Gees Bend
Twenty Photographs of Gees
Bend, Alabama
Document Observation Sheet
Photograph Analysis Sheet
Photograph Observation Sheet
Studying Documents
Studying Photographs
Studying Sound Recordings
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Procedure
Introduction: What is a
primary source?
Lesson One: What can be
learned from a photograph?
Lesson Two: What can be
learned from a document?
Lesson Three: 60 Minutes
in Gees Bend
Lesson Four: What can be
learned from a sound recording?
Lesson Five: Newspapers
from the Great Depression Era
Lesson Six: American Memory
Lesson Seven: Focused Research
Essay
Lesson Eight: Secondary
Sources
Evaluation and Extension
At the conclusion of the activities in this
unit, the class should discuss the following questions. The teacher
may need to provide some instruction or clarification of concepts. Try
to have students understand the importance of the questions as part
of the research process and as part of the means to focus research.
- Which exercise(s) did you find difficult
and why? Which exercise(s) did you find easy and why?
- Which exercise did you find most interesting
and why?
- What are some differences between primary
sources and secondary sources?
- Did you need to use different methods to
gain information from primary versus secondary sources?
- Why would an historian use a variety of
sources to collect information about the Great Depression?
- How did different types of resources provide
different perspectives? What questions does each raise? What types
of questions should be asked for each type of resource?
- What is the difference in the reliability
or authority of each type of source?
- What are the differences in the quality
and quantity of information gained from primary and secondary sources?
Are there differences in how one can use the different types of
sources?
- What new information did you learn that
was different or intriguing? From what source(s) did you obtain
this information?
- Why did this unit focus on family life
in the Great Depression? What are the advantages of focusing research?
How can research be focused?
Using the five-paragraph essays written by the students and the results
of the above questions, conduct a discussion about the Great Depression and
its effects on family life.
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