Cold Cases: Lessons in Historical Skills and Methods

 

Arctic Research
 


Who won the race to be first to the North Pole:  Frederick Cook or Robert Peary?

What was daily life like for members of a 1933 expedition to Antarctica?

What did it take to be a polar explorer in the early twentieth century?

 

 

 
Frederick Cook
(Left to Right: Frederick Cook and Robert Peary)
 
 
These are just some of the questions that students can try to answer using these lesson plans.
All of them address one important skill:
 

How can you use primary sources to figure out what happened in the past?

 
Teachers can choose from among five lesson plans to give their students hands on activities in social studies skills and methods. A variety of sources—including photos, letters, diaries, reports, and memoirs—are represented and the lessons take a variety of approaches. You’ll find one just right for your classroom needs.
 

So put on your parka and journey back into the past at the top and bottom of the world.

 
 

 

University Libraries
Byrd Polar Research Center

 

 

History Teaching Institute at The Ohio State University