Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Straight to the Source: Primary and Secondary Sources

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Learners discover what primary and secondary sources are and how to use them in this lesson plan from PBS Wisconsin Education. They watch video clips from the documentary "Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Neenah-Menasha," identifying the...
Unknown Type
University of California

Uc Irvine: Distinguishing Between Primary & Secondary Sources

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site has an online quiz to test your knowledge of primary and secondary sources.
Lesson Plan
South Carolina Educational Television

Know It All: Primary and Secondary Sources

For Teachers 4th Standards
Fourth graders will be learning about the difference between a primary and secondary source.
Lesson Plan
Other

George W. Bush Presidential Library: Teaching Primary and Secondary Sources

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
This comprehensive lesson plan provides a fact sheet, reusable worksheets, source scenarios, and assessments.
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Nonfiction and Reseach: "Choosing Nonfiction Sources" [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is the 20-page PDF "Choosing Nonfiction Sources." It provides informatation about various types of nonfiction: primary and secondary sources, reference works, databases, newspapers and periodicals, and nonfiction books; it also...
Lesson Plan
South Carolina Educational Television

Know It All: Primary and Secondary Accounts

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders will use letters from the Civil War to compare and contrast primary and secondary resources.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Exploring a Research Topic and Identifying Relevant Sources

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
In this lesson, students learn how to plan their research, find relevant primary and secondary sources, and use those sources in your research papers. W.11-12.8 Sources/Integrate/Cite
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: The Unsung History Makers: Maria Moreno

For Teachers 5th - 9th
In this interactive instructional activity, use primary and secondary sources such as video and audio to unravel the mystery of Maria Moreno, a woman who fought for farm labor rights before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta formed the...
Unit Plan
TES Global

Blendspace: Primary & Secondary Sources

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A twelve-part learning module with links to texts, videos, quizzes, images, and websites to use while learning about primary and secondary research sources.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Gathering Appropriate Information (English Iii Writing)

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson focuses on finding and evaluating relevant sources for a research project. It includes primary and secondary sources and print and internet sources. W.11-12.2...
Interactive
Beacon Learning Center

Beacon Learning Center: If You've Seen One Source, You've Seen Them All. Right?

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
This is a tutorial teaching the difference between primary and secondary research sources. It provides specific examples and asks students to answer questions along the way. Java is required.
Unit Plan
Indiana University

The Center on Congress: An Introduction to Primary Sources

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Discover the difference between primary and secondary sources, then take a quiz to test your knowledge.
Graphic
Library of Congress

Loc: Primary Sources by State

For Students Pre-K - 1st Standards
An interactive map to search for extensive collections of primary sources for each of the United States.
Website
Harry S. Truman Library and Museum

Truman Library & Museum: Incorporating Primary Sources in the Classroom

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Students and teachers are given direction in how to work with the primary source materials of the Harry S Truman Presidential Library.
Unit Plan
Thinkport Education

Thinkport: The Revolutionary Americas

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Find relationships among primary and secondary sources of information that identify where information from different sources converges and where it differs.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
This lesson plan introduces the practice of using primary sources; where to find primary sources, what they are, how to examine them, and how to construct a context to tell more of the story.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: A Biography of America: Tr and Wilson

For Students 9th - 10th
A website regarding the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Site contains key events in the United States and the world from 1898 to 1919, a map of the United States' expansion of its empire, a video with full transcript...
Graphic
Other

Education Oasis: Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizers

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site contains several downloadable graphic organizers for comparing and contrasting reading topics.
Activity
US National Archives

National Archives: Bring History to Life

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
How can you actually bring history to life? Here are some tools from the National Archives that allow students to create their own projects using primary-source based activities that develop historical thinking skills. Special historical...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: The Impact of the Erie Canal on America

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will learn how the creation of the Erie Canal changed the environment to be more advantageous. This transportation waterway impacted American culture, economics, politics, and more. It set America on a path of destiny, from a...
Article
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

Purdue University Owl: Primary Research

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Learn the difference between primary and secondary research as well as some different types of primary sources that can be used when gathering research.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Secondary Source

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This brief Wikipedia encyclopedia article explains the difference between primary and secondary sources.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Civil War, a Nation Divided

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A wonderful resource using primary and secondary source materials to explore many facets of the Civil War from the war itself to its impact on the home front. Includes video and text downloads.
Unit Plan
Other

Pilgrim Hall Museum: William Bradford

For Students 9th - 10th
This extensive biography of William Bradford includes links within the text to related primary and secondary sources. Also includes a timeline of Bradford's life. Some documents require Adobe Reader (PDF).