Using Multiple Sources to Tell the Stories of History

Site:	Colorado Education Learning Management System
Course:	High Impact Instructional Strategies in Social Studies
Book:	Using Multiple Sources to Tell the Stories of History

Printed by:	Guest user
Date:	Sunday, 28 April 2024, 8:29 PM

Description

1. Introduction to Document Based Questions (DBQ)
2. Exploration of Multiple Sources
3. Developing Disciplinary Literacy Using DBQs
4. Colorado's 10th Mountain Division DBQ (4th grade)
5. Primary Sources for DBQs

1. Introduction to Document Based Questions (DBQ)

What is the Document Based Question strategy (DBQ)?

A DBQ requires students to create an essay in response to a historical or literary text, analyzing some historical issue, theme, or trend with the aid of the documents as evidence. The DBQ is based on skills that can be learned and practiced by writing a strong thesis, using given evidence to support an argument, making connections between different documents and pieces of evidence, placing specific information in a broader context, analyzing an author's intent, bias, audience, etc. DBQ's can be used with grades 3 - 12.

Students analyze documents on a certain topic, answer questions about each document, and then answer in essay form an overriding question that pulls all the documents together. DBQs challenge students to go beyond their classroom instruction for a further, in-depth study on a topic. When analyzing sources, students must go beyond a surface analysis and inquire deeply about the source.

Having students engage with primary sources, especially if those sources have been selected to "tell a story," requires them to demonstrate disciplinary literacy. That is, the content knowledge, experiences, and skills demonstrated through the ability to read, write, communicate, and think critically using approaches unique to a specific discipline, in this case, social studies.

Here is a "Tips for Teachers" document on DBQs.

2. Exploration of Multiple Sources

Teachers must plan intentionally to offer students support they will need to frequently engage with complex texts. Knowing next steps in content learning which emerge from reading informational texts is important in guiding students on paths of inquiry. These next steps also include reinforcing disciplinary oriented ways of thinking about texts.

The use of diverse sets of sources promotes critical thinking. When using multiple sources in the classroom, keep in mind that It’s fine to select one paragraph or a few pages as a source. You can also identify thirty seconds of a video clip or one diagram as a source. If a source is manageable, students are more likely to recall specific details and, as a result, can more easily compare and contrast those details with new information as they examine additional sources.

As you begin to develop a set of sources, think about how the information provided in each source supports and/or extends the information in the other sources. Try to layer sources so that when students read a second, third, or fourth text, they start to notice details that are the same or they begin to notice information that is different and that can be added to what they learned in a previous text.

Watch this video about how one teacher uses multiple sources to focus students' study of the Civil War: https://www.adlit.org/in-the-classroom/inside-common-core-classroom/classroom-video-modules/integrating-knowledge-and

Questions: How does the teacher utilize each of the sources to guide students to learn about the Civil War? What process do you think the teacher used to decide which sources to use? What strategies does the teacher use to engage students with the sources?

Asking questions is an evolving process and one in which student thinking should begin to initiate questioning. Providing multiple sources for students gives them an opportunity to answer a compelling question using their historical thinking skills of close reading, contextualization, corroboration, sourcing, and using evidence. As students take on a greater role, the questions become more compelling and facilitate further study. Here's an example:

Student's Inquiry Question, "What contributed to the vampire hysteria that swept Europe during the Middle Ages?" points to multiple sources to explore, such as:

Black Death graves: http://www.livescience.com/27932-14th-century-black-death-burial.html
Doctors in the Black Death: http://www.cdc.gov/plague/history/ and http://www.doctorsreview.com/history/doctors-black-death/
Description of the Disease http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/plague-article/

Supporting students that struggle:

Be more specific. Give students a choice between a limited number of sources (e.g. 2 sources)
Develop a WebQuest with clear tasks and defined process steps.
Use iCharts to support inquiry https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inquiry_chart.
Create graphic organizers that demonstrate text structure and orientation of content within text. These are purposefully relational.
Have students work in Thinking Teams (small groups).
Use Jigsaw to scaffold reading of various parts of text.

SOURCE: National Council for the Social Studies https://www.socialstudies.org/meeting-common-core-state-standards-ela-part-two-reading-informational-text

3. Developing Disciplinary Literacy Using DBQs

Disciplinary Literacy & Document-Based Questions in Social Studies

When planning any social studies lesson, you have to take several questions into consideration...

Is the lesson relatable to students? Do they want to learn about it?
Is the lesson engaging? Will students be challenged to make discoveries and think for themselves throughout the lesson?
Does the lesson incorporate primary sources? Will students be exploring and analyzing documents from the era they are studying?
Does the lesson connect and support other content areas? Are there opportunities for students to apply disciplinary literacy skills?

DBQs are the "answer" to all of the above questions!

Video: Using Document-Based Questions for Historical Writing

Disciplinary Literacy Strategies in Content Area Classes (starting pg. 8)

4. Colorado's 10th Mountain Division DBQ (4th grade)

Camp Hale was created to train US soldiers to fight in the mountains during World War II. The camp was built in the Pando Valley near Leadville in 1942. There, troops of the Tenth Mountain Division learned to ski, snowshoe and climb. They used their training to fight in the Apennine Mountains in Italy in 1945. After the war, soldiers who trained at the camp helped build ski areas in Colorado. Camp Hale is now part of the White River National Forest. Read more information about the 10th Mountain Division and Camp Hale.

Here is the 10th Mountain Division DBQ.

Reflect:

How does the implementation and completion of a DBQ support reading and writing in the social studies classroom?

5. Primary Sources for DBQs

While developing your own DBQ may seem daunting, there are a number of websites where you can find collections of primary sources called, "primary source sets." You can use these sets (or pull specific sources) from these sets to build your own. Below are instructions for building your own DBQs and links to primary source sets.

How to Create Your Own DBQ

Determine what period, theme, or concept of United States History you would like to explore in creating your own original DBQ.
Determine the focus of the DBQ you wish to create. DBQ’s do not have to be limited to advance placement or honor courses. DBQ’s can reinforce similarities (compare), differences (contrasting), change and continuity (trace), and a variety of other learning tasks.
Select the specific section or sections from the websites listed below that best address the period, theme, or concept you have decided upon.
Develop the question for your DBQ. A good question will challenge the students to combine their knowledge of the documents and outside sources in their essay. Concentrate on the words used when developing a question.
Determine how many documents will be used in creating an original DBQ, most teachers recommend between 6-9 documents in a DBQ. However, for elementary students, 3 - 4 documents are recommended.
Thoroughly read all the documents selected in order to edit the significant segments of each document to be used in the DBQ. The document segments selected should be relevant to the question and reinforce the material covered in the course.

When editing also keep in mind time restrictions, students should complete the entire DBQ in approximately a class period or hour.

In constructing your own DBQ, use the two HSP provided DBQ’s as templates. Make sure to include your directions, clarifying expectations, and the question at the top of the page. Below the question, list the edited documents (include the document title, author, year – as the source) in a logical order that will help the student best answer the question. You may consider labeling each document by a sequence of letters.

Here are a few examples of DBQs to help your in your DBQ creation!

The 10th Mountain Division (4th grade)
Contributions of the Classical Period (6th grade)
Multiple DBQs for the elementary level (grades 2 - 6)
What Caused the Dust Bowl? (grades 9 - 12)

You can also have students create their own DBQs!

Where to find primary source sets:

Additional resources: