CHAPTER 1 – The Tools of History

Lesson 4: How Historians Study the Past

(“Can I” questions answered)

10. Can I analyze the reasons why people study history?

1. We study history to find out about our ancestors and to learn more about ourselves.

2. What has already happened affects what will occur today and in the future.

3. We study history to find patterns and to find causes and effects.

4. We look for these items so we can explain how and why things happened.

5. Historians also try to see the past through the eyes of those who lived it.

6. Historians ask certain questions when studying the past to help compare

different societies and make conclusions about the past.

11. Can I describe the tools historians use to study the past?

1. Primary Sources – something written or created by a person who witnessed a historical event. (letters, diaries, photos, videos, human-made tools)

2. Secondary Sources – written after a historical event by people who did not witness the event. (books, news reports, paintings)

• 3. Oral History – an unwritten account of an event. (stories)

12. Can I explain how our understanding of

history is always subject to change?

1. New evidence or technology may alter what was once believed

to be true about a historical event.