This class session teaches students to use primary sources to uncover stories from Iowa State University history.

Transcription

1 Tanner LIS504LEA Reference Service & Instruction Assignment Lesson Plan Topic This class session teaches students to use primary sources to uncover stories from Iowa State University history. More information about the Iowa State University archives is available at From this site, users can search the collections by keyword, look up names of important university figures in the names index, see a complete listing of record groups in the collection, and link to finding aids for the collections (not all finding aids are online, though they are all available in print in the special collections department). The site also includes some links to digitized materials which can be accessed remotely. Thus, this collection is perhaps more accessible to students than some archives would be. The university archives are just one of the special collections in the Iowa State University library, and they offer a great opportunity to teach students research and critical thinking skills through a topic that is relatable to them. Audience Upperclass undergraduate students in an honors seminar at Iowa State University This is one session in a longer honors course on historical research. Honors students are take up to two of these 1- and 2-credit courses as part of their curriculum (see The courses are pass-fail and limited to 17 students. Students typically choose a topic outside their major that they are interested in exploring. It is likely none of the students would be history majors, and most, if not all, would be upperclass students. General Goals Increase archival literacy and decrease archival anxiety Teach students the research value of unique primary sources Link information literacy to real-life experience Though students in this course may have experience in conducting research at the library and at Iowa State they are required to take a ½-credit course on this topic, Library 160 many of them likely have not visited the university archives. They may not even know Special Collections exists, or they may not understand that the items in the collection could have research value for various academic subjects. Much of the scholarly work on archives education points out that, even when students know about a

2 collection, they may feel particular anxiety about conducting research there: they can t browse the materials, they have to ask a librarian for research help, they can t bring in food or drink, and they may be limited to taking notes in pencil (McCoy 52). This type of collection feels particularly intimidating for students. Greg Johnson, Magia Krause and Michelle McCoy discuss ways in which an instructional visit to the archives can help to reduce this anxiety, particularly if students get a full tour of the space and see what s behind the curtain (Johnson 93; McCoy 54; Krause History 407). Exposing students to the particular challenges and rewards of working with primary sources is also a valuable goal. In her article It Makes History Alive for Them, Magia Krause notes that students get excited about researching a topic if they find it relatable, especially if it involves a tangible connection to history. A participant in a study she conducted comments that, I know when I show students the original Registrars book and say this is what a student's transcript was in 1870 they are really excited because that's like a physical object that they relate to that student (406). Elsewhere in this article, Krause notes that The raw materials of history offer a chance for students to take more control of their learning experiences. Because they go beyond thetextbook, they allow students to form their own questions and develop a deeper understanding of the units they are studying. Original sources also help students relate to the past on a personal level, a benefit that goes beyond the classroom and has implications for lifelong learning (401). Similarly, Peter Carini advocates an approach to teaching with primary sources that centers on the research process and views the document as an artifact and the analysis of that artifact (often unrelated to a discipline) as a valuable curricular outcome (46). ACRL identifies learning to use primary sources as a valuable skill. In Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, they suggest that an information-literate student differentiates between primary and secondary sources, recognizing how their use and importance vary with each discipline and realizes that information may need to be constructed with raw data from primary sources. Research using primary sources also supports two of the standards in ACRL s Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices, as it emphasizes student-centered learning and links information literacy to ongoing coursework and real-life experiences appropriate to program and course level. Specific Objectives Teach students how to find, read, and analyze sources (how to use finding aids, how to handle historical artifacts and documents, what kind of information artifacts and documents can provide) Teach students how to integrate primary sources into written work/presentations and how to cite them In a discussion of archival instruction at the University of Southern Mississippi, Jennifer Brannock says that the sessions serve four purposes: to introduce students to special collections, to show examples of materials and how to utilize them in research, to teach students how to search for materials, and to teach them time management skills when conducting special collections research (54). These are reasonable and valuable goals for an initial visit and introduction to university archives.

3 Instructional Design/Teaching Methods Instructional methods used in the session include lecture, demonstration, active learning, and collaborative learning. Because this subject and type of collection are likely new to students, some introductory lecture and modeling of how to approach these items is needed. However, this alone would not be sufficient to accomplish the learning outcomes of the session. Bopp and Smith note that a high degree of student participation and their active involvement promotes better and more permanent learning (191); at the same time, students want the process modeled so that they can build a conceptual model of how to accomplish archival research (Krause Undergraduates 511). This session is designed to give students time to practice the skills they are learning, to collaborate on solving problems, and to receive immediate feedback on what they learn. Writing exercises and group reading are recommended strategies for accomplishing these outcomes. Nearly all authors who write about archival education agree that interactive and hands-on use of materials is key in teaching students to use these information items (Carini 42; also see McCoy 52). Giving students an assignment that asks them to create a meaningful narrative out of primary sources is also valuable for teaching critical thinking and inductive reasoning. In a quarter-long archives project at DePaul University, the instructor began by having students select a letter that they would transcribe and later annotate and build outward from (McCoy 53). This introductory session in the university archives would show students how to start that process, so they can continue it on their own while working on a project later in the honors course. Timeline for Lesson Two-hour class session out of a longer (half- or full-semester) course Required Materials 1. Pre-selected items from the university archives, in a variety of formats Last letter written by Jack Trice, the first African-American athlete at Iowa State, who died of injuries sustained in his first football game (both original and digitized format) Death mask of Margaret Stanton, Iowa State s first dean of women and wife of professor and administrator Edgar Stanton Slides from For Parents Only, a program given during freshman orientation, Minutes of the Government of the Student Body, 1958

4 Commencement records, Instructions for the Senior Class, Photos from the Department of Residence (both hard copy and digitized) 2. Secondary sources, including exhibits on the university archives website, sesquicentennial publication, and histories of Iowa State 3. Sample finding aid and flowchart showing how to investigate a topic in the archives Step-by-step Procedures The session would begin with a tour of the stacks/vault, followed by a brief (20-minute) lecture covering the scope of collection, instruction on how to use a finding aid, and a demonstration of how to find and analyze artifacts, using one example from the items pulled for the class. The students would then spend minutes in a hands-on activity. Students would form groups of two or three and each group would choose one item (document, artifact, or photo) to study. Each group would answer these questions about its item: 1. What do you observe about this artifact/document? 2. What does this object tell you about Iowa State University history? Using this item, can you identify things that have changed, or stayed the same, about the campus and university culture? 3. What other sources would you need to help you understand this item better? Where/how might you locate those? 4. (If examining both an original item and digital surrogate): Do you get different or additional information from one of these items than from the other? If so, what? How does that contribute to your understanding of the object or of ISU history? Students would answer the questions using the think/write/pair/share technique, first working independently and then sharing their findings with others in the group. They would have time to consult secondary sources as needed. Next, groups would report back to the class and discuss the findings, with comment/summation from the archivist, and students would turn in their notes. We would conclude with a discussion of how to integrate primary sources into a paper and how to cite them in a bibliography. In closing, students would get a brief tour of the archives website to learn how to locate digital collections they could return to later. If any time remains, students would be free to research topics of their choosing with reference assistance from archives staff. Articles about bibliographic instruction in the archives of University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi recommend including all of these types of activities in a session. For example, The presentation could begin with an overview of the archives, giving a concise collecting scope and listing some of the larger or more important collections. The next focus could be on how to access these collections. In this portion of the presentation, the archivist(s) should demonstrate several examples of finding aids and/or inventories, and explain how [students] can use these to locate materials within the

5 archives. A brief explanation of rules and regulations for using collections in the archives should follow. Finally, the archivist(s) should discuss some of the materials she/he has pulled, giving brief descriptions ofthe items and mentioning their historical significance (Johnson 95). It is also helpful to cover evaluation of the physical artifact: paper quality, handwriting,ink, binding, etc., the importance of audience, the formation of a narrative (which is supplied in secondary source materials), date, and chronology (Carini 47). Assessment Methods The session would be assessed by reviewing students written work (notes from their group discussion) and by having students complete a brief questionnaire asking them what they learned from the session and whether they would be likely to return to use the archives in the future. Magia Krause has developed a helpful rubric for evaluating students work in the archives ( Undergraduates 515): 1. Observation: Were students able to describe the elements of a document,photograph, and finding aid? 2. Interpretation/Historical Context: Were students able to find meaning inthe sources and place them in a broader historical context? 3. Evaluation/Critical Thinking: Were students able to ask questions of thesources regarding their validity, limitations, and strengths? 4. Research Skills: Did students have a meaningful awareness of archives,where to locate primary sources, and how to read a basic finding aid?

6 Works Cited Association of College and Research Libraries. Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy That Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline. Web. 27 November Association of College and Research Libraries. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Web. 27 November fm Bopp, Richard E. and Linda C. Smith, eds. Reference and Information Services: An Introduction. 3 rd ed. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Brannock, Jennifer. Exposing Undergraduates to Special Collections Through Bibliographic Instruction. Mississippi Libraries 72.3 (2008): Carini, Peter. Archivists as Educators: Integrating Primary Sources Into the Curriculum. Journal of Archival Organization (2009): Johnson, Greg. Introducing Undergraduate Students to Archives and Special Collections. College & Undergraduate Libraries 13.2 (2006): Krause, Magia. It Makes History Alive for Them : The Role of Archivists and Special Collections Librarians in Instructing Undergraduates. Journal of Academic Librarianship 36.5 (2010): Krause, Magia, Undergraduates in the Archives: Using an Assessment Rubric to Measure Learning. American Archivist 73.2 (2010): McCoy, Michelle, The Manuscript as Question: Teaching Primary Sources in the Archives The China Missions Project. College & Research Libraries 71.1 (2010):