1. Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past –
Unit 1 – Lesson 6
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past –
Establishing Significance

2. Work with your group to brainstorm different ways you could organize the information in this account.

3. Historians use a variety of ‘tools’ to help them select, organize and analyze sources

4. Historian Tools Significance Social Institutions Time Space
(Temporal Frame)
Space
(Spatial Scale)
When something happened
Being worthy of a historian’s attention
Education
Religion
Government
Family
Economy
Language
Where something happened

5. How does a historian decide what’s important?
Historian Tools
Significance
Social
Institutions
Time
(Temporal Frame)
Space
(Spatial Scale)
When something happened
Being worthy of a historian’s attention
Education
Religion
Government
Family
Economy
Language
Where something happened

6. Make a list of 10 things you would include in the time capsule.
ACTIVITY
Imagine you want to leave some evidence – primary sources – of how we live now for people to learn about us 1,000 years from now. Imagine we are going to build a time capsule that will be opened in 1,000 years. What would you include in your time capsule to let people know about life in the United States now.
Make a list of 10 things you would include in the time capsule.

7. Place your ten ideas in order of importance
ACTIVITY
Place your ten ideas in order of importance

8. Now, explain why you think each item is important
ACTIVITY
Now, explain why you think each item is important

9. Write your top item on a strip of paper.
ACTIVITY
Write your top item on a strip of paper.
Place your strip of paper with those of the rest of the class.

10. We need to narrow our items to just 5!
Use your two sticky notes to ‘vote’ for your top two choices for the time capsule

11. ACTIVITY

12. SIGNIFICANCE Events that affected many, many people.
Events that brought about dramatic change.
Events that had a widespread impact.
Events that had a long lasting impact.

13. In terms of significance what could be dropped from this account???

14. Lesson Summary
Four tools that historians use to organize information include significance, social institutions, time, and space.
Ideas about significance can vary among historians.
We can determine whether an event is significant by constructing and applying rules or theories about what makes an event important.
Organizing an account by significance is important for both the historian and reader.