“I think the ability to learn about the interests of kids across the country put our little dot on the map in to perspective. I am always talking to the kids about global awareness, and this seemed to highlight that topic,” she said. “The kids started asking themselves: Why is this important to us and not them? Did the different regions have anything to do with their special interests and subsequent website selection? This discovery was a great benefit, and one I hadn’t expected.”
Her students use primary sources quite frequently in the classroom, and their work with the K-12 Web Archiving Project made them realize they are creating primary sources for the future, Kavon added.
Her students’ collection can be seen here.
Program requirements
Students participating in the program must identify primary source sites, work with their teachers to define and provide descriptions for those collections, briefly describe each site chosen and why the students chose the site or how it reflects their lives or interests, and answer a short online survey at the project’s completion.
For more information on using primary sources in the classroom, see:
Teachers leading the students should identify and mentor student leaders for the program, serve as facilitator for the student collection, and help students establish a process for evaluating and including sites. They help students create descriptions for the collection and enter selected sites’ URLs into Archive-It.
Teachers also attend training and check-in meetings, which usually occur once a month.
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