With increasing discussion on issues relating to the environment, Jackie Katz, the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress, decided that it might be beneficial to teachers to develop a primary source set on ecology.
This primary source set includes a wide range of rich primary sources from the Library’s online collections, such as materials that were created in the process of observing the environment for changes, including observations of the whalemen of Nantucket and those studying changes in the Appalachian forests. Also included are the results of experimental research projects completed by the United States government and colleges and universities to study how the environment interacted with items brought into the community. Finally, students can explore the reflections of those who have studied the observations and experimental results and have come to conclusions regarding what is happening or what actions need to be taken to support the environment.
As with our other primary source sets, we include the bibliographic records of the items in the set, links to downloadable versions of those items, suggestions for incorporating these materials in classroom activities, and a list of Library collections that you can use to expand the reach of this primary source set.
You may also want to keep an eye out for an upcoming blog post from Jackie where she demonstrates how she would use one of the resources from this primary source set in a lesson.
We hope this set spurs your lesson planning and provides new ideas on how you might teach ecology during the school year. Let us know how you might use this set in the comments.
Do you enjoy these posts? Subscribe! You’ll receive free teaching ideas and primary sources from the Library of Congress.