Chapter 1-Understanding Social Studies

Lesson 1-Studying History

Academic/STAAR Vocabulary

• Predict• Bias• Potential • Entity

• Era• Phenomena• Urban (urbanization)• Rural• Crucial• Affirmative

Content Vocabulary

• Century • Decade• Relative Chronology• Absolute chronology• Primary Source• Secondary Source• Geography• Landform

• Climate• Absolute location• Relative location• Age distribution• Growth rate• Irrigate

Thinking Like a Historian• History-is the study of the past.

It explains our roots.

It shows how past events have shaped our world today.

• In order to better understand the past, historians organize and label

time periods.

Era-a period of time noted for its events, people, or other characteristics.

(Middle Ages, Industrial Revolution, Texas Republic)

Century-a period of 100 years. (1800s)

Decade-a period of 10 years. (Roaring 20s=1920-1929)

Two ways of describing history:

• Relative Chronology-the order of events in relation to other

events.

Ex: My brother was born 1 week after we moved into our new house.

• Absolute Chronology-the order of events by dates.

Ex: Coach Cleland was born January 01, 1901.

Tools of History

01/01/190

1

Calendars and Time Lines:

• Cultures create calendars to help them track and predict events, such as

seasons and holidays.

• Predict-to tell what might happen in the future.

• Calendars divide time into periods such as days, months, and years based

on natural phenomena, or events

• Phenomena-an event that can be observed.

Tools of History

Calendars and Time Lines:

• Time Lines-show a

chronological sequence of

events.

• They are useful because:

• Visually present an order of

events.

• Help in understanding cause and

effect.

Tools of History

Shows an era of Texas History

Charts, Diagrams, and Graphs

• Table-simple type of chart that

presents data, or information, in

rows and columns.

• Make information easy to understand.

• Organize facts therefore making

comparing and contrasting easier.

Tools of History

Population Growth 1990-2000

Tools of History

Charts, Diagrams, and Graphs

• Diagrams-can show parts of something,

the steps in a process, or how something

works.

• Help the user focus on the most important

information.

• May omit certain details that could

overwhelm the user.

Tools of History

Charts, Diagrams, and Graphs

• Circle graphs-show how the

whole of something is divided.

• They are also called Pie Charts.

• The different colors make information

easy to identify.

Tools of History

Charts, Diagrams, and Graphs

• Bar graphs-use bars to compare

number visually.

• The bars can be displayed vertically or

horizontally.

• They can also be used to compare

items at different points in time.

Tools of History

Charts, Diagrams, and Graphs

• Line graphs-use a line that shows

how data changes over time.

• X-Axis (horizontal) usually represents

time (days, years, decades).

• Y-Axis (Vertical) has numbers that

show what is being measured.

• Primary source-is an original record or object

created at the time of an event.

• It may be an interpretation, or explanation, by a person

who witnessed an event.

• Are often the best way to know what really happened.

• Examples include: autobiographies, journals, diaries, letters,

documents/treaties, photos, newspapers, speeches, audio/video

recordings, artifacts, creative works, blogs/online reviews.

Analyzing Sources

Texas Declaration of Independence

• Secondary source-is a document created after

the event took place.

• Created by a person who did not witness the event.

• It is someone’s interpretation of an event that took

place.

• Examples include: histories, biographies, encyclopedias,

interviews/articles, magazine articles, other books, and

databases.

Analyzing Sources

When using Primary and Secondary sources evaluate

the information to determine if the source is reliable by:

• Consider the language being used. [key phrases “Crimes

against Humanity” (WWI) “War on Terror” (Sept. 11, 2001)]

• Verify is the information being conveyed can be supported

by other sources.

• Research the author’s credibility. (Were they there? Are they

an expert on the matter?)

Analyzing Sources

When using Primary and Secondary sources evaluate the

information to determine if the source is reliable by:

• Determine if there are any bias.

• Bias-a preference that prevents fair judgment.

• Try and understand the person’s point of view by asking

• When did the author live?

• What was the author’s personal situation?

• What was the author’s economic status?

Analyzing Sources