The History Labs: Integrating Primary Source Literacy Skills into a History Survey Course

Abstract

In this case study, a special collections librarian and a history instructor partner to develop a series of cumulative exercises teaching primary source literacy skills for a small history survey course. This sequence of lab sessions is implemented to improve student performance in the history survey and to test this pedagogical approach. Assessment tools such as rubrics, observation, and reflective journals revealed a clear improvement in students’ aptitude for a wide range of skills. The author discusses options for adapting the exercises to larger class environments and digital primary sources, as well as the transferability of primary source literacy skills to other academic settings.

KEYWORDS:

• active learning
• collaborations
• information literacy skills
• instruction
• outreach
• primary source literacy

Notes

¹Arlene Diaz, Joan Middendorf, David Pace, and Leah Shopkow, “The History Learning Project: A Department ‘Decodes’ Its Students,” Journal of American History 94, no. 4 (2008): 1211.

²Doris Malkmus, “Primary Source Research and the Undergraduate: A Transforming Landscape.” Journal of Archival Organization 6, no. 1 (2008): 52.

³Adam Berenbak et al., SPEC KIT 317: Special Collections Engagement (Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, 2010): 14.

⁴See, for example: Pablo Alvarez, “Introducing Rare Books into the Undergraduate Curriculum,” RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage 7, no. 2 (2006): 94–104; Julia Walworth, “Oxford University: Speed-Dating in Special Collections: A Case Study” in Past or Portal: Enhancing Undergraduate Learning through Special Collections and Archives (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2012) [hereafter referred to as Past or Portal], 30–34; “A Novel Approach: Teaching Research through Narrative,” in Past or Portal, 97–102.

⁵Reference, Access, and Outreach Section, Teaching with Primary Sources Working Group, “Survey Findings and Recommendations,” accessed May 15, 2014, http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/TPS_survey_final_report_080513.pdf

⁶Examples of this type of course using special collections and archives include Trevor Bond and Todd Butler, “A Dialog on Teaching an Undergraduate Seminar in Special Collections,” Library Review 58, no. 4 (2009), 310–316; Marianne Hansen, “Real Objects, Real Spaces, Real Expertise: An Undergraduate Seminar Curates and Exhibition on the Medieval Book of Hours” in Past or Portal, 237–241; Robin Katz, “Teaching Cultural Memory: Using and Producing Digitized Archival Material in an Online Course,” in Past or Portal, 179–185.

⁷Elizabeth Yakel, “Information Literacy for Primary Sources: Creating a New Paradigm for Archival Research Education,” OCLC Systems and Services 20, no. 2 (2004): 61–64.

⁸Peter Carini, “Archivists as Educators: Integrating Primary Sources Into the Curriculum.” Journal of Archival Organization 7, no. 1–2 (2009), 41–50.

⁹Anne Bahde, Heather Smedberg, and Mattie Taormina, eds. Using Primary Sources: Hands-On Instructional Exercises (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited, 2014), xviii–xx.

¹⁰Reference, Access, and Outreach Section, Teaching with Primary Sources Working Group, “Survey Findings and Recommendations,” accessed May 15, 2014, http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/TPS_survey_final_report_080513.pdf

¹¹Society of American Archivists, “Guidelines on College and University Archives,” accessed May 30, 2014, http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/cnu/cuguide2005.pdf

¹²Barbara Rockenbach, “Archives, Undergraduates, and Inquiry-Based Learning: Case Studies from Yale University Library,” American Archivist 74 (Spring/Summer 2011): 297–311.

¹³Shan Sutton, “The Special Collections Laboratory: Integrating Archival Research into Undergraduate Courses in Psychology and Music,” in Past or Portal, 175–178.

¹⁴National Science Teachers Association, “Position Statement on the Integral Role of Laboratory Investigations on Science Instruction,” accessed July 20, 2014, http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/laboratory.aspx.

¹⁵David Mazella and Julie Grob, “Collaborations Between Faculty and Special Collections Librarians in Inquiry-driven Classes,” portal: Libraries & the Academy 11, no. 1 (2011): 467–487.

¹⁶Ryan Bean and Linnea M. Anderson, “Teaching Research and Learning Skills with Primary Sources: Three Modules,” in Past or Portal, 156–162.

¹⁷James Gerenscer and Malinda Triller, “Hands-On Instruction in the Archives: Using Group Activities as an Engaging Way to Teach Undergraduates about Primary Sources,” Journal for the Society of North Carolina Archivists 6, no. 2 (2009): 55–66.

¹⁸Arlene Diaz, Joan Middendorf, David Pace, and Leah Shopkow, “The History Learning Project: A Department ‘Decodes’ Its Students,” Journal of American History, 94 (2008): 1211–1224.

¹⁹Lendol Calder, “Uncoverage: Towards a Signature Pedagogy for the History Survey,” Journal of American History 92 (2006): 1358–70.

²⁰For examples of these strategies in use, see Stephanie Cole, “Quit Surfing and Start Clicking: One Professor's Effort to Combat the Problems of Teaching the U. S. Survey in a Large Lecture Hall,” The History Teacher 43, no. 3 (2010): 397–410; Elizabeth Ann Pollard, “Tweeting on the Backchannel of a Jumbo-Sized Lecture Hall: Maximizing Collective Learning in a World History Survey,” The History Teacher 47, no. 4 (2014): 329–354.

²¹Using copies or digital sources is somewhat more frequent, although still not widespread. An example of an approach using non-original primary sources is Frederick Drake and Sarah Drake Brown, “A Systematic Approach to Improve Students’ Historical Thinking,” The History Teacher 36, no. 4 (2003): 465–489.

²²Doris Malkmus, “‘Old Stuff’ for New Teaching Methods: Outreach to History Faculty Teaching with Primary Sources” portal: Libraries and the Academy 10, no. 4 (2010): 413–435.

²³Gary Kornblith and Carol Lasser, “Teaching the American History Survey at the Opening of the Twenty-First Century: A Roundtable Discussion.” Journal of American History 87, no. 4 (2001): 1409–1441.

²⁴All student quotes in this article are taken from their feedback, which is in the possession of the author.

²⁵Magia Krause, “Undergraduates in the Archives: Using an Assessment Rubric to Measure Learning,” The American Archivist 73 (2010): 507–531. For other examples of rubrics used to measure student learning in information literacy environments, see Erin Rinto, “Developing and Applying an Information Literacy Rubric to Student Annotated Bibliographies,” Evidence Based Library & Information Practice 8, no. 3 (2013): 5–18; Stefanie Rosenblatt, “They Can Find it But They Don't Know What to Do with It,” Journal of Information Literacy 4, no. 2 (2010): 50–61.

²⁶RAILS (Rubric Assessment for Information Literacy Skills), “Norming Session for Participating Institutions,” accessed May 30, 2014, http://railsontrack.info/media/documents/2011/5/Norming_Session_for_Participating_Institutions_20102011.pdf

²⁷Further similar worksheets available at National Archives and Records Administration. 2013. “Docs Teach: Document Analysis Worksheets,” accessed August 15, 2013, http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/; Library of Congress, “Primary Source Analysis Tool,” Accessed May 22, 2014, http://www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysis-tool/

²⁸In his discussion of the ethical and cognitive development of college students, William Perry suggested that students at this level are often not ready to be critical of sources (including faculty and textbooks) which they consider to be authorities and tend to think in binaries of right or wrong without middle grounds. William Perry, Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme (New York, NY: 1970), quoted in Diaz et al., “The History Project,” 1213. Sam Wineburg also addressed this tendency in Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2002).

²⁹Through interviews with history faculty members, Diaz et al., “The History Project,” articulated this and other common issues associated with student history work which they term “bottlenecks”: 1213–1217.

³⁰This exercise was adapted from “Quick Curation: Building Analytical Skills through Context and Juxtaposition” by Peter Carini in Using Primary Sources: Hands-On Instructional Exercises (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited, 2014).

³¹Heather Smedberg has discussed the logistics of having large classes visit special collections and archives and the necessary consideration. Heather Smedberg, “500 Students, 3 Approaches, 1 Quarter,” presented as part of the seminar “Pecha Kucha with our Stuff: Teaching with Rare Books, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections” at the RBMS Preconference, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2011.

³²For a discussion of special collections materials in large survey classes, see Anne Bahde, “Taking the Show on the Road: Special Collections Instruction in the Campus Classroom,” RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage 12, no. 2 (2011): 75–88.

³³Megan Oakleaf recommends transparency of rubrics to increase the quality of student performance. See Megan Oakleaf, “Using Rubrics to Assess Information Literacy: An Examination of Methodology and Interrater Reliability,” Journal of the America Society for Information Science and Technology 60, no. 5 (2009): 969–983.

³⁴See, for example, Dan Berrett, “Habits of Mind: Lessons for the Long Term,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 8, 2012. Available at http://chronicle.com/article/Habits-of-Mind-Lessons-for/134868/?cid=at