Sandwell, Ruth M. “Using Primary Documents in Social Studies and History.” (2008)

Sandwell discusses the importance of using primary sources in history teaching. However, teachers often do not use primary documents because of difficulties in finding useful documents, challenges of integrating them into an already crowded curriculum and an uncertainty about how to teach students to use them critically. Sandwell defines the term ‘primary source’ and describes the potential benefits for teachers who use primary sources in their history classes. She continues by describing how historians use primary sources and where teachers can find primary sources. Sandwell offers a chart for teachers to use to assist in identifying the different types of primary sources including where to find the sources online. Primary sources are the only available tangible link to the past. Sandwell states that primary sources inform students that history is not simply “what happened” but “an active process of developing knowledge, an act of interpretation.” Sandwell continues with discussing how teachers can integrate primary sources in their classes by making them personal for students, such as asking them to keep journals of the “traces” they are leaving behind like emails, phone calls, etc. Sandwell offers several methods of how to integrate primary sources into the curriculum and classroom. She emphasizes how a single primary source can be used to meet multiple curricular outcomes. They can also be used with existing resources by enhancing the content knowledge and engaging students. Sandwell concludes with suggestions for how teachers can make primary sources accessible for students, how to incite and enhance critical thinking skills and why teachers should use primary documents. Sandwell states that if teachers believe history is about facts, and there is a “master narrative” of what “truly happened,” then primary sources will be of little use to them.