Course Section Information
01/26/2011 - 03/08/2011
Max. Class Size: 25
Available Seats: 1
Offered by PBS National
- Enrollment is not open.
Teaching with Primary Sources from the Library of Congress
- Course Section Description:
Primary sources provide a window into the past—unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific, and political thought and achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period. Bringing young people into close contact with these unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects from the Library of Congress can give them a very real sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era and can contribute to a new understanding of the present. Teaching with primary sources can facilitate student engagement, the development of critical thinking skills, and the construction of knowledge, while bringing the content to life.
This course will demonstrate how teachers can help students construct knowledge, think creatively, and develop information fluency necessary for success in the 21st century through analyzing primary sources from the Library of Congress. With its rich core of over 15.3 million digitized items, including manuscripts, maps, photographs, and sound and video recordings from throughout the U.S. and the world, and its extensive teaching materials, the Library of Congress is uniquely positioned to help educators discover new strategies for building their students' capacity to think critically about the world around them.
Analyzing primary source documents in the classroom with students engages them in the learning process. For the course project, learners will create a lesson plan that integrates the use of digitized primary sources from the Library of Congress. They will also implement all or part of the lesson in the classroom or with a group of students.
Note: This is a facilitated course. Learners submit coursework and participate in asynchronous discussions throughout the course term, and receive graded feedback.
Classroom Link-Access to students recommended. PBS Classroom Link courses ask learners to implement lessons with their class or with a small group of students (options for learners without access to students are available).
For assignments and evaluation details, see the full Syllabus.
The number of hours identified for each course reflects time spent online, but does not reflect the total time spent completing offline coursework and assignments. All learners are different and you will likely spend double the indicated number of hours completing all coursework depending on your learning style and work habits.
- Graduate Credit Information:
- Graduate credit may be obtained from the provider(s) listed below, for an additional fee after the course begins.
- University of Central Missouri - 3.0 credits - pricing
- Madonna University - 3.0 credits - pricing
- Adams State University - 3.0 credits - pricing
- University of Missouri - Kansas City - 3.0 credits - pricing
- Susan Allen
- Subject Area:
- Instructional Strategies
- Grade Level: