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During field experiences, preservice teachers often are asked plan and teach a lesson and then to reflect on their teaching. The purpose of this paper is to examine the guided reflections of 66 preservice teachers after they planned and implemented a primary source-based lesson in an elementary classroom. The project occurred during the preservice teachers’ enrollment in a social studies methods course.

This qualitative study utilized a fieldwork approach as the methodological framework. This approach provided data that allowed the researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the preservice teachers’ experiences. Data were analyzed using Bogdan and Biklen’s (1998) content unit of analysis. Descriptive and interpretive coding schemes were used to analyze data using a priori categories of successes and challenges.

The preservice teachers were able to engage in technical and practical reflection, considering strategies used in the classroom and their effects on student learning, but they were unable to reflect at the critical level, thinking about moral and ethical decisions. The themes and subthemes that many of the preservice teachers identified as successes, others identified as challenges.

This study highlights the importance of preservice teachers engaging with primary sources, as well as with frequent, meaningful, and ongoing field experiences. Teacher educators need to provide multiple opportunities for teacher candidates to reflect broadly and deeply on their teaching practice and student learning. Additional research needs to be conducted to assess the impact of preservice teachers use of primary sources in the elementary classroom.

This study analyzed the experiences of elementary teachers who engaged in archival research with primary sources, then used their new knowledge and materials to create elementary curriculum. The teachers located and identified primary source material then determined its reliability. They placed the source and its author in the correct historical context and evaluated perspectives and biases. By engaging in this process, teachers developed a greater understanding of primary sources, a key component of historical thinking, advancing their subject content and pedagogical knowledge. The teachers developed lessons centered on primary sources rather than using them in a more superficial manner. They came to view primary sources as tools to: develop historical empathy, advance the teaching of multiple perspectives, and construct meaning. Further, they developed meaningful lessons that not only motivate their students, but also enhance their students’ higher order thinking skills and ability to conduct historical research.

The tenets of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) allow librarians to assess their teaching effectiveness through an evaluation of student learning. For the author, the sudden reliance on digital primary source collections during the 2020 pandemic lockdown provided a catalyst to examine her digital primary source instruction as a research project. In this case study, the author aims to examine library instruction for a required course for third-year history majors.

The author collaborated with a history professor to identify “bottlenecks” related to digital primary source research, and to design two new library instruction sessions with in-class activities and assignments to address these bottlenecks. The professor and author then evaluated the assignments to determine if students had understood and incorporated the methods modeled during the research instruction classes.

Teaching undergraduate history majors digital primary source research skills that will lead to the habits of mind of historians cannot be done in one academic quarter, for it takes time to develop disciplinary ways of thinking. Providing select core concepts more systematically earlier in the history major curriculum could make the enculturation into the discipline less fraught and confusing later, so that students begin learning foundational skills in their third year to carry them forward into their senior year when they write their theses.

Little has been written on digital primary source library instruction, which intersects with a variety of other research literacies. Assessing library instruction through the lens of SoTL is relatively new for academic librarians and has not been used in evaluating student learning in the digital primary source environment.

Increasingly, high school classrooms have access to the Internet. The Avalon Project Internet webpage enables high school students to access primary sources on a variety of American History topics. Literacy strategies are a promising method to help students organize the information they access when they are reading primary sources online. In particular, graphic organizers help students to make sense out of complex issues presented in primary sources. The author describes how his high school history students used the Avalon Project Internet webpage and graphic organizers to comprehend the primary sources with which they were working. Suggestions are given to help history teachers implement this activity in the classroom. Background information on literacy strategies is provided with specific examples of graphic organizers to help guide teachers who are interested in utilizing the strategy with their students.

The emphasis on primary sources and disciplinary literacy skills in not only the Common Core State Standards, but other national curricula (i.e. College Board exams and the NCSS C3 Framework) requires that teachers continue to find ways to integrate these skills into their elementary and secondary classrooms. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This paper introduces a cross-disciplinary approach that integrates primary source reading skills and the arts to cultivate student literacy and creativity though the writing of found poems.

Found poetry activities based on social studies primary sources allow students to practice literacy skills, engage more deeply with social studies content, and also may encourage the development of historical empathy toward the experiences and perspectives of distant peoples and events.

After reading and analyzing primary sources, students can create and present their found poems in diverse formats which allows for student expression and creativity in the classroom. Teachers can easily modify found poetry activities to meet the needs of diverse learners.

This paper fulfills the identified need to increase literacy skills and incorporate more student participation in the classroom. Using the strategy of student-inspired found poems, primary sources become more tangible and meaningful to students. Found poems offer yet another way to integrate the arts into social studies education.

Written by a librarian and history professor, the purpose of this paper is to describe a collaborative, primary source literacy project and report its effectiveness in teaching undergraduates to critically analyze information and develop primary source literacy.

The methodology used included a research project with 24 undergraduates and a pre- and post-survey. The research project and student survey incorporated principles from the “Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy”, published in 2017 by the ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and the Society of American Archivists. The paper offers research and practical implications for librarians and instructors interested in strategies to teach information literacy. For instance, the paper includes a review of literature on “archival intelligence” or “primary source literacy” and describes the 2017 Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy.

Socially, the paper includes implications for how to create an inclusive learning experience for students with mechanisms such as a scaffolded assignment, hands-on instruction, imposter syndrome awareness and a no-Google policy.

Given that this is one of the first articles to document how practitioners are incorporating the new 2017 Guidelines, this is sure to be an original and valuable essay.

The authors received a grant to develop a digital educational tool to facilitate student engagement with online primary sources. Students and faculty were interviewed prior to developing the tool's specifications to ensure a user‐centered focus. This research paper seeks to report the results of a user needs assessment that explored students' use of primary sources and their learning preferences, as well as faculty's pedagogical goals for student work with primary sources.

Faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students enrolled in humanities courses at the University of Colorado at Boulder were interviewed to help guide the development of this tool. The interview transcripts were analyzed to uncover several key findings.

The results of the user needs assessment suggest that primary sources have great potential to excite students' enthusiasm and enhance their learning experiences; however, these materials present several challenges that prevent students from using digital primary‐source collections to the fullest extent. Educational technology may be able to help students overcome these difficulties, but only if the technology is easy‐to‐use and designed to support faculty's pedagogical goals.

This study employed a semi‐structured interview methodology to collect the relevant data. Its central research questions could be explored in greater depth using other user‐centered design methodologies, such as artifact and task analyses.

This research will be used to inform the development of a digital educational tool for student use with primary sources.

This study contributes to the growing body of research on user needs for effective work with online primary sources in university‐level humanities education.

This paper seeks to provide instructional methods for using simulations to teach primary and secondary sources within a social studies classroom. Classroom simulations provide students with authentic opportunities to engage in meaningful learning experiences that are both hands-on in nature and promote the use of critical thinking.

This paper opted to describe an approach to teach students about primary and secondary sources through a classroom simulation. Step-by-step instruction was provided via an included table, so that readers can recreate the lesson in their own classrooms.

This paper offers insights about how simulations can be used to provide students an authentic experience with primary and secondary sources. These experiences include opportunities to critically think about the benefits and limitations that both primary and secondary sources offer students while engaging in historical inquiry.

This paper is designed for teachers to utilize and replicate in their own social studies classrooms.

This paper recognizes the important role that primary and secondary sources have in the social studies classroom. Through an original approach, using simulations, the authors present a unique perspective on how to teach about primary and secondary sources in a manner that supports historical inquiry.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an investigation of how different types of gig workers engage in the gig economy. Specifically, the authors distinguish between workers who view gig work as primary income (or not) and those workers who view it as a job (or not).

In total, 1,190 Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers completed surveys across two studies examining whether types of workers differ based on demographic characteristics, utilization of MTurk, why they participate in the gig economy on MTurk (i.e. push and pull factors) and how this impacts life satisfaction.

Workers relying on MTurk as a primary income had lower incomes and spent more time completing large numbers of work units. This group of workers also reported fewer pull factors (e.g. enjoyment) as a reason for working in the gig economy and had lower levels of self-reported current and predicted future life satisfaction. Individuals who view MTurk as a job were more likely to treat MTurk like a job – engaging in online communities and having a regular work schedule. These workers were more likely to report pull factors (e.g. enjoyment and challenge) and did not differ on life satisfaction.

The current research contributes to our understanding of MTurk, one of the largest online platforms for gig work, as part of the diverse gig economy and highlights potential areas for future research.

The authors conducted a study at a history museum with the objective of examining changes in the knowledge of students aged 12 to 14 concerning the use of primary sources.

Students utilized self-led guides while exploring two museum spaces presenting different historical events. These guides encouraged students to scrutinize the exhibits, become acquainted with the methods employed in their research, and develop an awareness of the information derived from them. Students' responses to pre- and postquestionnaires were compared and analyzed using mixed methods.

The results revealed that students became familiar with various types of primary sources, recognized that only specific sources endure through time and gained an understanding of the research methods employed to study them. Additionally, most students comprehended that the same sources could lead to diverse historical accounts and the potential reasons for such variations.

Recommendations for practice are discussed.

This study contributed to the limited knowledge regarding learning during a single, self-led tour in a history museum. The findings illuminate the potential for learning and advancing historical thinking concepts even within such museum-visit contexts.