Need Extra Practice or Help?

Before you begin your journey into the ancient past, you need to be able to locate places on a world map. See the Geography and Map Skills Handbook

LESSON 1: Why do we study history?

How do historians figure out what is important enough to include in the official "story" of the past? Check out: Historical Significance.

LESSON 2: How do historians organize time? 

• They use TIMELINES. Watch the video here to learn more. 

LESSON 3: What do historians do?

Historians study primary sources (sources made at the time of an event) and secondary sources (sources made AFTER an event by people who were NOT there). Read more about these sources here. You can practice your skills here:

• • Primary and Secondary Source Game: https://www.playfactile.com/secondarysoursevsprimarysources/play

  • Primary and Secondary Source Game: https://wordwall.net/resource/21848362/history/primary-and-secondary-sources

There are three history skills we will focus on this semester. 

• • Context is the background information about an event. We may think people of the past make strange decisions. By learning more about the time period these decisions will make more sense. Read and watch the video here.

  • Bias is when a source's opinion is unfair or unbalanced. These sources are important because they give us clues to what people of the past were thinking. 

    • • Bias reading and Bias Video

  • Corroboration is when we gather many pieces of evidence to support a claim or source. We can never trust only one source about the past. We need to corroborate, or build our case with lots of evidence, just like a lawyer!

LESSON 4: Where do we find primary sources --> Archaeology! 

Archaeology is the study of prehistory (before written sources). Archaeologists excavate (dig) in a VERY careful way. They are looking for fossils (human/ animal remains) and artifacts (man-made objects) to tell the story about the past. See more here!

LESSON 5: Who are the hominins and how did they migrate to all of the continents?

According to scientists, hominins are the ancestors to humans. Check out this video to see a breakdown of all of the major hominin groups. In class, we will talk about the 4 most famous groups of hominins. We will then talk about how