Bell RingerDescribe something that has happened in your

past that affects your behavior today.

Unit 1What Does a

Historian Do?

Guiding Question: What types of things can history reveal about the past?

1. Why Study History?

History - the study of people and events of the past

Explains why things are the way they are

the wheel carts automobilesHelps understand the presentHelps make choices about the future

HistoriansDefinition: people who study historyExamine causes of past events

Reflect: If you could, what part of history would you travel to and why?

Guiding Question: What are historical periods?

2. Measuring Time

Periods of History One way to measure time is to label

groups of years DECADE – 10 years CENTURY – 100 years MILLENIUM – 1,000 years

ERAS (a.k.a EPOCH) – large periods of time marked by important events

Prehistory - 5,500 years ago BEFORE WRITING WAS INVENTED

Ancient History – ends A.D. 500 Middle Ages – between A.D. 500 - A.D.1400 Modern History – A.D. 1400 - Today

Calendars – a system for arranging days in order

Julian Calendar Created by Julius Ceasar, a Roman leaderWas not precise (exact), we do not use this calendar

Gregorian CalendarWE USE THIS CALENDAR TODAYCreated by Pope Gregory 13th

Much more accurate

Dating EventsBefore the birth of Jesus

B.C. – before ChristB.C.E. – before Common EraNumbers count backwards

After the birth of JesusA.D. – anno dominiC.E. – common era

Numbers count forwards

*There is no year 0*

3. Timelines

Timelines show:Passage of timeOrder of eventsAmount of time between events

Key parts:Title Time periodSpecific events

Reflect: When would a historian use a calendar?

When would a historian use a timeline?

Guiding Question: What do students of prehistory look for?

4. Digging Up The Past History and Science

Prehistory – before the invention of writing

Archaeology – looks for artifacts people left behind

Artifacts – objects made by people (tools, jewelry, weapons)

Paleontology – looks for fossilsFossils – preserved remains of plants and

animals

Anthropology – studies cultures over timeUses both artifacts and fossils

Reflect: How are archaeologists, paleontologists, and anthropologists like detectives?

Exit Ticket

Answer this question on a separate sheet of paper:

What is a historical era?

Name, Date, Period

Bell Ringer

Pick one of these objects:

A microwave

A newspaper

An iphone

What would this object tell a future historian about the way we live today?

GQ – What types of evidence do historians use to understand the past?

1. What is evidence?

Evidence – shows proof that something is true

Can be items or documents

Primary Sources – first hand pieces of evidence

Come from a historic event

Secondary Sources – created after the event

Written about an event after it happenedCan be biographies, text books, history books

Reliable Sources – historians make sure sources are giving them information that is true

Who created it?Why did they create it?What was it created for?

Point of view – each source has an attitude about its subject

Bias – a point of view without a good reasonCan’t always be trusted

Reflect – Choose a subject and write a paragraph with your own point of view.

GQ - How do we write about history?

2. Writing About History

Historians use primary sources as clues

They infer explanations of events

Secondary sources help to show different points of view

Historians come to a conclusion and create more secondary sources

Conclusions – final decision based on reasoning

based on all the clues you have collected

EXIT TICKET

Why are primary sources better clues than secondary sources?