To teach students the difference between primary and secondary sources, I like to use a fun game like “Telephone” to show how information gets warped and changed as it passes through many different minds and mouths. Once exposed to different definitions of primary and secondary sources, I would dig deeper into the “why” of this lesson by using the conversation from Elizabeth Cady Stanton about honesty. Students would discuss what the quote means, and why, when studying history, we must rely most on the “truth” in primary sources and how this is the “safest ground to stand on” when learning about history.
Level: Elementary Social Studies
Subject Area: Any history subject
Author: Tiffany Heitman
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