This is the first in a series of posts by Ralph Pantozzi, a 2024-2025 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress.
Primary sources are snippets of history: data points that gain meaning as students pose questions and gather new evidence to build reasoned explanations about the events depicted or described. Statistically literate students connect mathematical knowledge to what they have learned in other disciplines and contexts from the world around them. With primary sources, students have the opportunity to collect data from the real world and use the data to form hypotheses and make decisions.
A photograph, for example, can be seen as data about a particular moment in time in a particular place. It might represent a widespread phenomenon or be unique. The thousands of photographs taken for the Farm Security Administration during and after the Great Depression provide excellent opportunities for exploration, as they are rich with data about the lives of individuals, living conditions for groups of people, the state of the economy, and more.
Consider the image above, taken by photographer Russell Lee for the FSA. Describe what you notice. What details stand out? What would you like to know more about? Examine this primary source with your students using an observe, reflect, and question routine.
A single photo also contains data within it, and students might propose questions prompted by that data. In this photo, students might notice that there is a small collection of buildings, few trees, multiple branching structures in the land, and lighter patches. What might those patches be? Are they human-made or a natural feature of the landscape? From these and other pieces of data (the somewhat regular ridges), students might deduce that this a farm. This can lead to more questions. Are the patches a crop? Are the branches for irrigation? Examining the text accompanying the photo suggests that the lighter-colored patches are grass, which had been planted to help slow gully formation.
“How can you tell?” is a question at the core of the statistical problem-solving cycle used in mathematics. In this cycle, students formulate questions, collect data, analyze that data, communicate interpretations and conclusions, and develop questions for further research. In the case of this photo, students can draw from a larger data set to pursue the questions sparked by their analysis of the photo. The additional photos can help students understand what went on here in 1937.
In a world awash in images, students collect data from visual observations daily, and must work to make sense of what they have seen. Students should bring skepticism to their examination of any images, including those of the FSA. What were the purposes of the photographers? Why might these photos have been selected? What data is missing? Ask students to question their own assumptions as well, as prior knowledge can influence what data they notice and what questions they ask.
This photo may have left you or your students interested in collecting data about erosion, flooding, farms, and more. In subsequent posts, you’ll have a chance to delve into these topics, and continue to think about primary sources as a starting point for asking questions that can be answered with data.