Using Primary Artifacts to Understand Presidential Decision Making

FAIN: AZ-50023-08

University of Texas, Austin (Austin, TX 78712-0100)
Paul E. Resta (Project Director: January 2008 to June 2011)

A four-day workshop for twenty-five social studies teachers to examine materials documenting the historical and political contexts in which U.S. presidents made crucial decisions.

In the proposed workshop, participants will be introduced to approaches to examining presidential decision making and will build upon that knowledge during a review of theoretical and practical approaches to incorporating historical reasoning into social studies education. Primary source materials from The Presidential Timeline (PTL), as well as other repositories, will be used throughout the workshop. These materials offer unique opportunities for creating digital narratives. Teachers will receive training in three free online tools especially well suited for this purpose. Ultimately, teacher teams will create classroom activities that focus on a significant presidential decision, utilize digital primary resources, require historical reasoning, and lead to the creation of a digital narrative as a student deliverable. These activities will be disseminated through the PTL and tips for their classroom implementation will be offered via a series of live and recorded webinars.