Integrating Primary Sources into the Elementary School Classroom: A Case Study of Teachers' Perspectives
Abstract
There have been increasing calls in recent years for archivists to become more engaged with the K-12 community and for primary sources to be more integrated into K-12 curricula, that is, primary and secondary education. This paper discusses effective ways to incorporate primary sources in the classroom, and examines teacher attitudes about the use of those sources. The paper begins with an overview of efforts by the archival community and developers of digital resources to develop primary source-based programs for use by K-12 communities in both formal and informal education settings. It then describes the methodology used to conduct this case study, and the case study findings. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of this research for developing a systematic archival and educational infrastructure and establishing a coherent theoretical base for educational use of primary sources in K-12 education.
RÉSUMÉ
Dans les dernières années, on a lancé des appels nombreux pour que les archivistes s’impliquent davantage auprès des enseignements de l’élémentaire et du secondaire [en anglais, K-12 désigne l’enseignement au primaire et au secondaire, « from kindergarten to grade 12 », NdT] pour favoriser l’utilisation des sources d’archives dans les programmes scolaires. Cet article discute différentes façons d’intégrer efficacement les documents d’archives dans les classes et examine l’attitudedes enseignants quant à leur utilisation. On traite d’abord des efforts déployés par la communauté archivistique et par les fournisseurs des ressources numérisées en vue de développer des programmes basés sur des sources d’archives pour les salles de classes élémentaires et secondaires, qu’il s’agisse d’apprentissage formel ou informel. On passe ensuite en revue la méthodologie qui a été utilisée dans l’étude de cas et les résultats obtenus. L’article se termine sur une discussion des implications de cette recherche pour le développement systématique d’une infrastructure archivistique et éducative et l’établissement d’une base théorique cohérente pour l’utilisation de documents d’archives à des fins éducatives dans les programmes scolaires de l’élémentaire et du secondaire.
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