The Library of Congress (LOC) gives a helpful framework for social research lecturers for analyzing main sources that guides college students by means of a See-Assume-Marvel method to evaluation. On the “Trainer’s Guides and Evaluation Instrument” web page, lecturers can discover a multitude of worksheets tailor-made in the direction of particular forms of main sources comparable to images, maps, manuscripts, oral histories, and extra.
On this case, I used to be trying particularly to deal with a historic cemetery as the first supply for an exercise with my Secondary Strategies college students, and I spotted that the LOC doesn’t have a worksheet tailor-made to locations. As such, if I wished my college students to method the cemetery as a main supply, I would want to adapt the instrument myself.
To remodel the acquainted LOC framework right into a cemetery-specific model, I tailored the questions from the LOC’s generic Primary Source Analysis Tool to information the scholars’ work for the day. I created a slide deck utilizing Nearpod, so they might simply entry the protocol on their cell telephones. For the Observe part of the evaluation (Determine 1), the questions that guided college students’ exploration had been: What do you discover first? Discover one thing small however attention-grabbing. What do you discover that you simply didn’t anticipate? What do you discover that you would be able to’t clarify? What do you discover now that you simply didn’t once you first parked? I additionally requested them to you’ll want to take photographs of issues that caught their eyes which they might add to the Nearpod’s collaboration exercise slide. This part, they did with a companion.
Determine 1: Instance slide from my reimagined LOC Major Supply Evaluation Instrument for Cemetery-Based mostly Training
For the following two phases, I used a Assume-Pair-Share format. For the Mirror part, they answered: Why do you assume this house is necessary? If somebody began this cemetery at present, what could be completely different? What are you able to study from exploring the cemetery on this means? For the Query part, I requested them to provide you with three to 5 questions they’ve. In the event that they had been caught, they’d the next prompts which had been borrowed from or impressed by the Major Supply Evaluation Instrument: What do you marvel about? Who do you marvel about? What wonderings associated to the previous, current, or future do you have got? What different place are you excited about? For the ultimate part, Additional Investigation, I assigned college students homework to contemplate Florida state requirements of their content material space that they might educate through cemetery-based schooling.
What Occurred in Follow
By rephrasing the instrument’s conventional prompts, I created an exercise that remodeled the cemetery right into a wealthy textual content for college kids to investigate. Nearpod’s interactive format meant they might stroll the grounds with their telephones, answering prompts individually on a clean Major Supply Evaluation Instrument whereas nonetheless partaking in dialogue with a companion. Once we used the tailored instrument, college students’ reflections had been considerate. They had been in a position to make a variety of observations associated to veteran plots and a veteran memorial, administration points, the wide-open inexperienced areas the place unmarked graves had been, and extra.
Determine 2: Scholar taking part in a classroom exercise targeted on cemetery-based schooling
The next class interval, college students began brainstorming how they might adapt the instrument for their very own instructing, not only for a place-based exercise, however for something. Although historically utilized in social research, the entire college students created methods they might reimagine this instrument to spark deep evaluation and considerate discussions with their future college students in topics from math to biology to psychology.
Remaining Ideas
College in any self-discipline can strive one thing comparable:
- Take a well-known analytic framework your college students already know.
- Contemplate the way it would possibly change if utilized otherwise than regular.
- Use know-how (like Nearpod, Padlet, or perhaps a shared Google Doc) to scaffold observations and reflections in actual time.
For my class, the consequence was a studying exercise that felt each recent and accessible and helped my college students interact deeply with an area they may in any other case have neglected. By remodeling the Library of Congress Major Supply Evaluation Instrument for a cemetery setting, I gave my college students an entry level into studying about place-based schooling that was structured and accessible. The exercise helped them to assume otherwise about how an area historically linked to private mourning can turn into a studying house. And within the course of, I remembered one thing too: adaption and creativeness can result in impactful instructing.
Dr. Hillary M. Van Dyke is an assistant professor of schooling on the College of Tampa. A former center faculty instructor and district administrator, she brings over 17 years of schooling expertise to her work. Her passions additionally embrace out of doors exploration, touring, and being an aunt.
References
Getting Began with Major Sources. Library of Congress. Accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS TOOL. Library of Congress. Accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/documents/Primary_Source_Analysis_Tool_LOC.pdf
Trainer’s Information Analyzing Major Sources. Library of Congress. Accessed January 27, 2026, https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/guides/
Trainer’s Guides and Evaluation Instrument. Library of Congress. Accessed September 19, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/guides/
