TY - JOUR
AU - Barton, Keith C.
AB - Teaching History ••••••••••••••••••••• Primary Sources in History: Breaking Through the Myths Using primary sources in history classes is all the rage. But if teachers are not reflective about the best use of such materials, they may engage students in exercises that are neither historically nor instructionally sound. Mr. Barton points out common misconceptions about primary sources and suggests ways to maximize their educational potential. BY KEITH C. BARTON ISUALIZE the following class- room scene. Students walk into history class and pull out pack- ets of primary sources — or, in a more technologically advanced school, they log on to a collec- tion of digitally archived docu- V ments. History books are used only for reference, and lectures are virtually absent. In- stead, the students work in small groups to analyze each source and evaluate its reliability — determining its ar- gument, establishing who created it and when, and iden- tifying the bias of the author. Later, they compare sources and reach conclusions about the events or time periods portrayed, and they discuss reasons for their differing in- terpretations. Sounds like good history instruction, doesn’t it? Well, not necessarily. KEITH C. BARTON is a professor in the Division of Teacher 
TI - Primary Sources in History: Breaking through the Myths
JF - Phi Delta Kappan
DO - 10.1177/003172170508601006
DA - 2005-06-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/primary-sources-in-history-breaking-through-the-myths-FW22a69dgL
SP - 745
EP - 753
VL - 86
IS - 10
DP - DeepDyve
ER -