Integrating Primary Sources into the Elementary School Classroom: A Case Study of Teachers' Perspectives

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.