The Theory And Practice Of Primary Sources In The U. S. History Teaching: An Tentative Study

The primary sources play an important role in high school history teaching, especially in the training on students' analytical and comprehensive abilities. The primary source teaching in present Chinese classroom, however, is confronted with some negative factors and problems which contain its healthy development. This thesis, based on the comparison between the theories and practices of primary sources teaching in American and Chinese high schools, aims at analyzing the drawbacks and attempting some new methods in Chinese history teaching, and therefore, hopefully contributing to Chinese education reforms.The thesis comprises three chapters. The first chapter studies the practice of the U. S. primary sources teaching, including its methodology, classification, assessment and selection, organization and activities. The second chapter, serving as the major part, theoretically discusses the U. S. primary sources teaching from its variety in materials and methods, its focus on facts and evidences, and its usage in values and outlook on real life. The third chapter enumerates the drawbacks in present Chinese primary sources teaching, and argues that the successful experiences in the U. S. classroom can be a useful reference for the reforms of Chinese history teaching.