1. How do Historians Create Accounts
Unit 1 Lesson 4
How do Historians Create Accounts
of Past Events?

2. How did you create your ‘account’ of the first day of school
How did you create your ‘account’ of the first day of school? What did you use?

3. Perspectives on the Past
How might you create an account of an event that happened before you were born?

4. What do we use to learn about the past? Make a list with a partner.
ACTIVITY
What do we use to learn about the past? Make a list with a partner.

5. Historical Evidence

6. If you had to create a historical account of the 7th grade experiences of one of your parents, what kind of evidence would you look for?

7. Possible Evidence
Interview your parent.
Interview your grandparents
Interview a classmate or teacher of your parent.
Photographs
Records like a yearbook or report card

8. Would you trust all the information you got??? Why? Why not?

9. ACTIVITY
Take notes as we discuss the next slides.

10. Types of Sources
When Historians study an event, they use sources related to the event
Historians classify the sources they use in two categories called:
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources

11. Primary Sources
Characteristics
Firsthand information about an event

12. Primary Sources Characteristics Firsthand information about an event
Includes words, images, or objects created by persons directly involved in an event

13. Primary Sources Examples:
Physical/Material remains: buildings, roads, tools, weapons, coins, tapestries, pottery, battle sites, clothing
Geographic records: maps, charts, place names
Visual records: drawings/paintings, photographs
Written records: letters, diaries, memos, laws, books, reports, trials, public meetings, inscriptions on buildings, receipts,

14. Checking Your Understanding
Imagine you are a historian who wants to know what American Middle School students learned in school from Which of the following would be considered Primary Sources?
Interviews with people who went to middle schools or taught middle school in the 1980s
State laws about education requirements in the 1970s
A report written by a historian in 2010
Textbooks used in schools in the 1960s

15. Checking Your Understanding
Imagine you are a historian who wants to know what American Middle School students learned in school from Which of the following would be considered Primary Sources?
Interviews with people who went to middle schools or taught middle school in the 1980s
State laws about education requirements in the 1970s
A report written by a historian in 2010
Textbooks used in schools in the 1960s

16. Secondary Sources Characteristics Contain second hand information
Created by people who were not eyewitnesses to the event
Descriptions of events that include analysis or interpretation of primary sources to describe a past event

17. Secondary Sources Examples:
A written analysis of old firsthand interviews about an event
A book that describes an event written many years after the event

18. Checking Your Understanding
Imagine you are a historian who wants to know what American Middle School students learned in school from Which of the following would be considered Secondary Sources?
An interview with the neighbor of a person who was a middle school teacher in the 1950s
An article written in 2010 about middle school in 1960s
A final exam from a social studies class in 1980
A textbook about the history of middle school education

19. Look At the Usage of the Source
The difference between a Primary Source and Secondary Source is how the historian uses the source.

20. Look At the Usage of the Source
For example, when studying what students learned in middle school from 1950 to 2000 a textbook used in that time period is a Primary Source—it’s firsthand material.
A textbook is also a Secondary Source about the events written about in the textbook—it explains events long after they happened.

21. HOMEWORK

22. ACTIVITY
Compare and contrast your list and your partner’s list.

23. ACTIVITY
These two sources talk about people working in the factories of England in the 1830s.

24. ACTIVITY
These two sources talk about people working in the factories of England in the 1830s.

25. ACTIVITY
Read the two sources and then answer the questions about them.

26. ACTIVITY
How do we know if we can trust sources like these?
How can we know if the information is accurate?

27. Which Source Is Best?
A primary source is not necessarily better than a secondary source because not all primary sources are of equal value in helping a historian study an event.
How does a historian decide which sources are the most accurate when studying an event?

28. Which Source Is Best?
A Historian does three things when examining a source:
Distinguishes between Facts and Opinions
Checks for Internal Consistency or Contradictions
Checks for External Consistency or Contradictions – Corroboration

29. Fact or Opinion
A fact is something that is true about a subject and can be tested or proven
Look for clues such as: " 56% of....”, or “The President attended...“
An opinion is what someone thinks about that subject.
Look for clues such as: "I believe...", "It's obvious...", or "They should...“

30. Fact or Opinion
A fact is something that is true about a subject and can be tested or proven
An opinion is what someone thinks about that subject.

31. Fact or Opinion
Which part of the following statement is fact? Which part is opinion? How do you know?
Records show that most middle schools require students to take social studies; however, they should also require foreign languages.

32. Internal Inconsistencies or Contradictions
Internal - Within a single document
Contradiction - the facts presented cannot all be true; they clash with each other
Inconsistency - the facts are presented differently, which may raise questions about the source’s accuracy

33. Internal Inconsistencies or Contradictions
Internal - Within a single document
Contradiction - the facts presented cannot all be true; they clash with each other
Inconsistency - the facts are presented differently, which may raise questions about the source’s accuracy

34. Internal Inconsistencies or Contradictions
Which might be less accurate? Why?
A diary entry states that John went to school on Monday, and then later says that John and Mary went to school on Monday.
A diary says that John went to school on Monday, and then later states that John never went to school.

35. External Inconsistencies or Contradictions
External - When comparing multiple documents
Contradictions – facts in the two sources are at odds with each other and both cannot be true
Inconsistency – factual details are presented differently, which may raise questions about each sources’ accuracy

36. External Inconsistencies or Contradictions
External - When comparing multiple documents
Contradictions – facts in the two sources are at odds with each other and both cannot be true
Inconsistency – factual details are presented differently, which may raise questions about each sources’ accuracy

37. External Inconsistencies or Contradictions
Which is less accurate?
A diary entry states that John went to school on Monday. An interview with another student indicates that John and Mary went to school on Monday.
A diary says that John went to school on Monday, but school attendance records show that John never went to school.

39. Example: There was internal consistency in the document because it first stated that the car accident happened at 10 AM and then later stated that it happened between breakfast and lunch.

40. Example: There was external consistency among the documents because one witness report stated that the blue truck ran the red light while another witness report stated that the light had been red for a while when the blue truck entered the intersection.

41. Checking for Accuracy
A Historian does three things when examining a source:
Distinguishes between Facts and Opinions
Checks for Internal Consistency or Contradictions
Checks for External Consistency or Contradictions – Corroboration

42. Checking for Accuracy
A Historian does three things when examining a source:
Distinguishes between Facts and Opinions
Checks for Internal Consistency or Contradictions
Checks for External Consistency or Contradictions – Corroboration

43. ACTIVITY
Imagine a person found this letter in their attic. How would you know if its information was accurate?

45. ACTIVITY 1. Identify each sentence as a statement of fact or opinion.
2. Conduct an internal check. Are their any contradictions. Where? What line numbers?
3. Conduct an external check. Find five facts that you could check or corroborate using other sources.

47. Do you trust this source? Why or why not?
ACTIVITY
Do you trust this source? Why or why not?

48. LESSON SUMMARY

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