WHAT ARE PRIMARY vs. SECONDARY SOURCES?

PRIMARY SOURCES : Created by those who eye-witnessed the events of the past,

and who participate in the present...

What are some primary sources that provide a permanent record about your own life?

Birth Certificate, School Report Card, Diaries, Family Photos, Letters to Friends, etc.

Understanding Geography involves “questioning” and “searching”… Listening to eye-witness accounts of important events around the world.

The ultimate challenge is to use primary sources to understand an event better through the eyes of the people who lived it.

What do you think has just happened?

WHAT TYPES OF PRIMARY SOURCES help us understand GEOGRAPHY ?

1. Visual Documents: Include photographs, films, paintings, posters, etc.

Satellite and Shuttle Images

MAPS…

CARTOONS…

2. Artifacts: The everyday tools and objects we use at home, at work, etc.

Incan Ruins, Peru

3. Written Documents… Include government records, newspapers, editorials, diaries, letters, etc.

Personal Papers… Letter from Castro to FDR

Newspaper Firsthand Reports

Government Documents …diplomatic recognition of Israel, 1948

Rule # 1. All primary sources are subjective… What we read about is merely someone’s interpretation of the past or the present...

Every source is biased in some way… But even biased and opinionated sources can give us important insight about the present and the past.

WHAT CAN PRIMARY SOURCES TELL US?

How landforms were created…

The effect of natural events on our resources…

The effect of man- made events on our lives…

See how humans alter the land…

And transform it.

Understand different cultures…

Comparing common experiences…

How people live and thrive in difficult situations…

How holidays are celebrated…

How the arts express different people’s cultures…

See our influence in other cultures…

See democracy working in other nations (Black South Africans’ line up to vote in their first elections)

Or how democratic practices are in need (military rule and civil war, Zaire, 1990s)

Witness news events firsthand… (Return of Elian Gonzales to Cuba)

Empathizing with victims… (funeral for child victim of West Bank violence, Israel)

Seeing causes for conflicts (Afghani fighters against Soviet invasion, 1980s)

Understanding other viewpoints ( Protesting military bases in Puerto Rico)

Challenging a stereotype?

Understand America’s involvement in other nations…

Seeing political leaders in action…

And leader’s influence on their people’s lives…

See ourselves through other’s eyes…