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