Teaching With Primary Sources for Cultural Understanding, Civic Mindedness, and Democracy

This resource has been developed for preK-20 educators in order to help students use primary sources to go beyond simple acquisition of content knowledge and rote memorization. The procedures and approaches outlined in this book are designed to help students use primary sources in discipline- and inquiry-based ways to develop and enhance cultural understanding, civic mindedness, and democracy. Expert authors demonstrate how the skills students learn through this process can be applied to their everyday life and allow them to think critically about the world around them, better understand various cultures, communicate their understandings effectively, and enhance their democratic values. Grounded in the National Council for the Social Studies C3 Framework, topics include social emotional learning, inclusion, higher order thinking, civic agency, project-based learning, democracy-building across cultures, teaching about war, enacting change through intentional civic engagement, and systemic racism in the United States.

Book Features:

Chapters by leading experts in the areas of civic education and teaching with primary sources. Guidance for supporting multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Detailed examples of classroom-tested instructional ideas and approaches from educators teaching with primary sources in pre-K-20 classrooms. Primary sources and links to resources throughout the book.