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Archive: April 2013 (10 Posts)

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Physical Education in Library of Congress Primary Sources

Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

May is Physical Fitness Month. Based on America’s popular culture obsession with physical fitness, one might be tempted to label fitness as a modern phenomenon. Primary sources hardly come to mind, but in fact, students can discover a rich and extensive history of physical fitness through the collections of the Library of Congress.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Assessing Historical Thinking Skills Using Library of Congress Primary Sources

Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

When we ask teachers how they use primary sources, they often have rich and creative answers about how they hook students’ attention, deepen understanding, and even review concepts and content. We hear less about assessment, and most of the responses are questions about how to construct assessments using primary sources. The Stanford History Education Group has created formative assessments using primary sources from the Library of Congress. With these tools, teachers can gauge students’ historical understanding and ability to apply critical thinking skills by evaluating their analysis of primary source materials.The Spring 2013 issue of the TPS Journal, an online publication focused on pedagogical approaches to teaching with the Library’s digitized primary sources in K-12 classrooms, looks at how a teacher can assess not only content knowledge, but also critical thinking skills.

Publicity image from the Jackie Robinson story with Robinson at the plate with a catcher and umpire

Jackie Robinson: Remembering Number 42 with Primary Sources

Posted by: Danna Bell

Baseball still holds a special place in the culture of the United States. As this year's season opened around the nation's capital we began to see more and more people wearing baseball caps, shirts and jackets with their team's favorite logo. Though baseball has been a part of the culture of the United States for many years, not all were allowed to play in the major leagues.