Lesson 1: Find out what’s happening today in a local area

Lesson 1: Find out what’s happening today in a local area

Define

Present: The current time we live in (today), the here and now. Sources: A place/person/object from which we can obtain information. Documents: Something that is handwritten or printed. Historian: A person who studies, and writes about the past.

Core content

We can use different sources to find out about the present. We distinguish between three types of sources: primary, secondary and tertiary sources.

• Primary source: a book/letter that was written by a person who was actually there, e.g. the diary kept by Piet Retief. • Secondary source: a person who read the book/letter and writes his/her own interpretation. For example, someone who writes a report after he/she has read Piet Retief’s diary. • Tertiary source: a secondary source is used to supplement the existing information. For example, someone uses the report written on Retief’s diary to obtain information. When historians examine the past, they prefer to use primary sources as they are the most accurate documents that describe what really happened. However, historians must be very careful not to record their own opinions or beliefs when they write about the past.

In the next few lessons we are going to look at different ways that we can collect information about the present. We can obtain information from sources including photos, documents, stories and interviews with people as well as objects.

In the next four lessons we will discuss each source separately. Once you have completed your lessons, we are going to use the same skills to find out more about the past/history of a local area.