Union Technologist #60
March 2002
Teaching with Primary Sources
Primary source materials were
created contemporaneous with the events being studied. They can include
interviews, letters, diaries, newspaper articles, books, historic buildings,
newsreel footage, sound recordings, etc. Because they were written, photographed
or recorded at the time of the event they can provide students with an
understanding of the thoughts and concerns of people during that time.
The Web is a natural for historic materials, because it is relatively
easy and inexpensive to share documents and artifacts in digital form.
Libraries, Historical Societies and collectors are beginning to recognize
the value of making their archives more accessible in this form.
The more comprehensive sites such as the Library
of Congress and National Archives have areas supporting education.
Introductory and topic specific lesson plans spanning all grade levels
are available, as well as source evaluation worksheets.
With our school district celebrating
its 100th anniversary this year, and the city not far behind, it is a great
opportunity to explore our local history with students. The Cleveland Heights
Historical Society (www.chuh.net/chhistory)
has considerable material already online and more will be added over the
next couple of months. The Superior Road school is open for field trips
and has an archive of historic photos and documents. Heights High has a
"Worth a Second Look" section of their website (www.chuh.org/chhs/)
that features a history of the high school and selected articles from old
school newspapers and yearbooks. The CHTU web site (www.chtu.org) features
a history of our local and state organizations.
Does your school's website feature a history of your school yet? Perhaps
your class would like to research its history. They can interview older
residents and visit area libraries and historical societies. The Cleveland
Public Library (www.cpl.org) houses the
Cleveland Press photo collection including pictures of Cleveland Heights.
Students wear white gloves to handle these historic artifacts. The Western
Reserve Historical Society (www.wrhs.org)
has a large research library adjoining the museum exhibit areas.
Maps
Maps
can provide a snapshot of any location over time. Your students can see
how a community has changed. Where did water originally drain? Which streets
were built first? Where did the trolleys go? More and more historic maps
are being made available on the web for easy viewing. Because you can zoom
in on details, the online version is often easier to view than the original.
In addition to the typical single size images (jpeg) there is a new
compression format is beginning to be used for maps and other historic
documents on the web. Lizard Tech (www.lizardtech.com)
distributes both MrSID and the web plug in DjVU at no charge. They create
high quality, yet relatively small files that can be quickly zoomed or
panned. Because these technologies are offered free of charge, students
can use the same techniques as the professionals to place local primary
source materials on the web.
The Library of Congress American Memory project has hundreds of 19th
Century maps available. Cleveland State University's Cleveland Digital Library
/ clevelandmemory.org) has an entire
page devoted to map links. The railsandtrails.com
site has early 20th century detailed topographic maps of all of northeast
Ohio and will eventually feature the entire state. A number of websites
(terraserver.microsoft.com.
topozone.com, etc.) feature current topographic
maps and satellite imagery.
Maps can be part of a math or science class as well as a history class.
The map grid system is a math concept. In math you can measure and calculate
distances both on a completed map and learn simple surveying techniques
in the field to create your own map. Topographic maps are often used in
science. In English, you can draw a map of the setting described in the
book you are reading.
