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Historical Thinking Skills

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Historical Thinking Skills 

  • What are Historical Thinking Skills?

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  • Skills needed to  evaluate and analyze various sources to construct meaningful accounts of the past. 

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What is a source?

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Primary sources

  • A primary source is an original object or document -- the raw material or first-hand information.
  • Eye witness accounts are also a primary source, but are less reliable than a document.

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A primary source - is an original object or document -- the raw material or first-hand information.

  • Artifacts/ Fossils
  • Historical and legal documents
  • Results of an experiment
  • Statistical data
  • Pieces of creative writing
  • Art objects
  • Eye witness accounts

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Primary Source Examples

  • Diaries
  • Poetry
  • Personal Interviews
  • Government Documents
  • Autobiographies
  • Photographs
  • Artifacts/Fossils

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Why use primary sources?

To develop your own conclusions and analyze how historical events affect your life.

To recognize failures and successes in the past in order to make better decisions as a citizen.

To understand who you are by examining your roots or placing yourself in that time period or situation.

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Secondary sources�

  • A secondary source is something written about a primary source.
  • You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information.
  • If I tell you something, I am the primary source. If you tell someone else what I told you, you are the secondhand source.

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PURPOSE

To get expert opinions in order to evaluate what really happened.

To gain insight by examining the same event from different perspectives.

To form your own opinion.

To save time by reading information collected from a number of different sources.

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Secondary sources

  • Secondary sources include:
  • interpretations of primary sources
  • comments on primary sources
  • discussions about the original material

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Secondary sources

  • Secondary source materials can be:
  • Articles in newspapers
  • Magazines
  • Book or movie reviews
  • Encyclopedias
  • Articles that review other sources
  • Textbooks
  • Biographies
  • Wikipedia
  • Documentaries

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Analysis of Sources

Historians use Primary sources to create Secondary sources.

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Primary or secondary sources. Explain whether they are RELIABLE or USEFUL?

A letter

Textbooks

Internet

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It’s all about evidence and Analysis

  • Historians are like detectives trying to explain past events
  • Historians use different types of evidence to piece together the past
  • Primary Source = a piece of evidence created by an eyewitness
  • Secondary Source = a piece of evidence created by someone after the historical time period being studied
  • Primary or Secondary Sources can be written accounts (newspapers, journals, books, etc) or artifacts.
    • Artifacts = human-made objects; can be useful evidence

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Historical Thinking Skills- Comparison 

  • What does it mean to compare?

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