JonesR_AnnotatedBib

8/9/2019 JonesR_AnnotatedBib

1/5

EdTech 501 Spring 2013

Richard Jones

Annotated Bibliography

Subject A rea/Grade Level:American Government/12th Grade

Instruct ional Objectives: Increase Student Access and Use of Primary Source Documents to

Support Student Writing and Student Inquiry in Social Science Classrooms

Pre-Research Discussion

The educational system in the United States is currently undergoing a major shift to nationalized

standards known as the Common Core State Standards. These carry with them a greater

emphasis on students being able to locate and draw conclusions from primary source

documents. In an attempt to better prepare my students for the rigors of these standards, I

would like to increase student access and proper use of primary source documents to support

claims in their writings. Technology would play a vital role in accomplishing this goal. Students

would need access to a web-connected computer. They would need to learn how and where to

access digitized copies of primary documents. This would include access to online historical

archives, college library collections, and other online databases. My goal also goes beyond just

learning to write for educational standards. Students can use primary documents to become

empowered learners who have the ability to create questions and develop conclusions. They

would need to have access to a blog forum where they could share ideas and ask for

clarification. This would be essential to my students because they often struggle with the

complexity of primary sources. These simple technological integrations would completely

change the social studies classroom in the United States.

Post-Research Discussion

I went into this assignment hoping to find more information about using digitized primary source

documents in an effort to improve my students writings and integrate more student inquiry in my

lessons. After completing the research for this assignment it is clear that a great deal of

literature exists on this topic. Like most teachers, I have fallen into the trap of using these

documents to support my lectures or add content to presentations. Rarely have I used the

documents as a means for students to analyze and write their own interpretations of history. In

other words, I have not given my students enough chances to think like historians. As a result

of my research, I hope to start building lessons that allow students the opportunity to use these

online collections to create their own history portfolios. By changing the focus of my lessons to

a student-centered approach, students would have ample flexibility to use these documents to

support their Common Core style writings. This would only be possible if the school were to

provide me with the necessary technology to complete my vision.


2/5

Tally, B., & Goldenberg, L. B. (2005). Fostering historical thinking with digitized primary sources.

Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(1), 1-21. Retrieved from

http://students.stritch.edu/dlcaven/Article2/DigitizedPrimarySources.pdf

This article reports the findings of a study that examined the use of digitized primary documents

in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to determine if the use of digitized primarydocuments would lead students to learn and appreciate history more than previous classes they

had taken. Furthermore, the study wanted to find if students would exhibit historical thinking

skills as a result of these activities. In the study, students were asked to examine historical

images and draw conclusions based on prior knowledge and the images themselves. They

used the American Memory website established by the Library of Congress.

As a result of this study, the authors found that students felt this activity made the class very

different from their previously-taken history courses. They also found that students completed

more work than in previous courses but still enjoyed it more. Students felt the use of computers

made the content more active and interesting. Finally, they concluded that students did use

historical thinking behaviors when completing this task. The authors did acknowledge the

necessity to properly train teachers to use digitized primary documents in lessons. They also

pointed to the need to provide scaffolding software to assist students.

This study supports my instructional goal by validating the potential benefits of using digitized

primary sources in social science classes. It is clear that students are more engaged and think

at a much deeper level when given access to these online sources. They lend themselves

better to the inquiry-based lessons expected from Common Core. Most of these sources would

not be accessible through traditional paper-based mediums. While the article does not provide

much insight as to how this can be included in writing, it does set the foundation for the

importance of giving students access to these as a means of gathering information and drawingconclusions.

Hicks, D., Doolittle, P., & Lee, J. K. (2004). Social studies teachers' use of classroom-based and

web-based historical primary sources. Theory & Research in Social Education, 32(2),

213-247. doi:10.1080/00933104.2004.10473253

This study was commissioned with the goal of finding out the extent to which social science

classes have been influenced by the availability of web-based primary documents. In doing so,

the authors examined the difference between the use of paper documents as opposed to web-

based primary documents in social studies classes. The study found that a larger percentage of

teachers use traditional paper documents than ones that are web-based. An even smaller

number of teachers use audio and video primary sources. They concluded that a lack of time

for preparation and insufficient access to web-connected computers are to blame for the lack of

web-based primary documents being integrated into curriculum. This goes against earlier

research that accuses teachers of not using electronic mediums due to a lack of proper training.
http://students.stritch.edu/dlcaven/Article2/DigitizedPrimarySources.pdfhttp://students.stritch.edu/dlcaven/Article2/DigitizedPrimarySources.pdfhttp://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2004.10473253http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2004.10473253http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2004.10473253http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2004.10473253http://students.stritch.edu/dlcaven/Article2/DigitizedPrimarySources.pdf


3/5

The method of this study was to survey 395 social studies teachers to which 158 responded.

This three-part survey was comprised of 84 questions. The three parts included questions

about demographics, class-based primary sources, and web-based primary sources. Other

qualifying factors included the use of pro-social studies, pro-technology, and pro-primary

sources respondents. The problem with this approach is that the evidence is based purely on

individual responses. There did not seem to be a system to verify whether or not these sourceswere actually being used. Thus, while the researchers made an effort to provide a large sample

size, the lack of observations makes the usefulness of this study somewhat limited.

This study supports my instructional goal by proving the need for web-connected devices in

order to properly integrate the use of primary source documents in a social studies classroom.

My complaint has long been about the lack of computers as opposed to a lack of training on

how to use them in my classes. This study also points to the potential for primary sources to

support historical inquiry lessons. These are the very same principles that will be required from

students when it comes to reading and writing for the Common Core; moreover, they are

essential for building the kind of thinking that is required of students who want to be

independent learners.

Hendry, J. (2007). Primary sources in K-12 education: Opportunities for archives.American

Archivist, 70(1), 114-129. Retrieved fromhttp://archivists.metapress.com/content

/v674024627315777/

This article examines the potential for archivists to capitalize on the movement to include

primary source documents in K-12 education. The author attempts to make the case for

increasing the number of online archive offerings by explaining how they will be essential in

inquiry-based lessons and the growth of standardized testing. She spends time describing the

positive educational impacts of using these documents in terms of increasing studentengagement and helping develop cognitive capacities. She then attempts to persuade

archivists to focus on their online collections and organizations so that access to these

documents is easier for students and teachers. She goes on to mention her belief that the sites

could also offer assistance to teachers by better informing them how to use the documents in

the classroom.

This article supports my instructional goal in multiple ways. The author makes it clear that years

of studies have proven the potential for primary documents to improve student engagement in

lessons and preparation for standardized testing. Moreover, she argues that access to these

documents is much easier online as opposed to finding them in paper format. The author also

mentions how online resources, such as APA or MLA websites, would allow students to practice

and proof citations. Finally, the author admits that the archives themselves could offer a great

deal of assistance to students and teachers to help them better understand how to use these

documents in the classroom. This go a long way towards helping my students use digitized

primary sources in their writings.
http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/http://archivists.metapress.com/content/v674024627315777/


4/5

Brown, C. A., & Dotson, K. (2007). A Case Study Using Digital Primary Source Documents.

TechTrends, 51(3), 30-37. doi:10.1007/s11528-007-0039-3

This Tech Trendsarticle was the write up of a case study that examined the use of digitized

primary source documents to teach Information and Communications (ICT) skills and assist

students in making deeper analyses of information. This study was initiated because teachersreported a tendency for students to wander the web during internet research and because

students copy and paste information into their papers at an unacceptable rate. Thus, the

researchers wanted to determine if it is possible to teach 21st century literacy skills using

digitized primary source documents. The study found that students who were given training in

21st century literacy skills were able to formulate research questions, locate relevant

information, determine biases in documents, and deeply analyze information from multiple

sources. This was done through the combined efforts of teachers and school media specialists.

This case study supports my instructional goal because it lends credence to the idea that

students can use digitized primary source documents to improve their writings in the classroom.

The authors clearly state that such efforts provide a deeper analysis of the information they

gather. This is an essential skill that students must develop if they are to be successful with the

new standards for writing expected from Common Core. It also goes beyond my original goal of

content development by demonstrating the additional information literacy that is gained by

participating in these types of activities. This is critical in a world of increasing demand for

technological competency.

Friedman, A. M. (2006). World history teachers' use of digital primary sources: The effect of

training. Theory & Research in Social Education, 34(1), 124-141.

doi:10.1080/00933104.2006.10473300

This study examined the use of digital primary sources in world history classrooms. The main

focus of the research was to determine the effectiveness of teachers abilities to utilize these

resources to create an environment of historical thinking. The findings of this study concluded

that access to documents in and of itself does not result in the creation of lessons that build

historical thinking; moreover, he notes that technology training did not have an impact on the

effectiveness either. In most of the classrooms, teachers used the access as a way to add

content to their current lessons as opposed to using digital primary sources as a means of

allowing students to work with the artifacts.

The study makes some valid observations but lacks the kind of sample size necessary to make

the conclusions this author has offered. He only used six teachers in this study from a possible

selection of 34. He also lacked the breadth of courses that should be studied before making

these broad statements. It is much more difficult to find digital primary sources for world history

standards as opposed to the overwhelming amount available to US history teachers. This

would have been a major obstacle to overcome for this study. Nevertheless, the findings in this

study are important, but the sample size and narrow focus makes it difficult to draw powerful

conclusions from it.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11528-007-0039-3http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11528-007-0039-3http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11528-007-0039-3http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2006.10473300http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2006.10473300http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2006.10473300http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00933104.2006.10473300http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11528-007-0039-3


5/5

This study assists my instructional goal by demonstrating the importance of access to primary

documents in order to get students to think like historians. The study points out that access

itself does not ensure this potential; however, it does prove that it is an essential part of the

equation. The author also assists my efforts to provide teachers with opportunities to utilize

computer labs during the school day. Our school is currently using the technology lab for onlinecourses, thus making it nearly impossible to take another class in there during the school day.

JonesR_AnnotatedBib

Documents

Transcript of JonesR_AnnotatedBib