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Module (1) Uncovering the Past - Lesson Opener and Lesson (1)

The document provides an overview of social studies, emphasizing the importance of history and its branches, including culture, geography, civics, and economics. It discusses the methods historians use to study the past, including primary and secondary sources, and the role of archaeology in understanding historical contexts. Additionally, it highlights the significance of studying history to learn from past mistakes, understand cultural heritage, and improve future decision-making.

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21 views

Module (1) Uncovering the Past - Lesson Opener and Lesson (1)

The document provides an overview of social studies, emphasizing the importance of history and its branches, including culture, geography, civics, and economics. It discusses the methods historians use to study the past, including primary and secondary sources, and the role of archaeology in understanding historical contexts. Additionally, it highlights the significance of studying history to learn from past mistakes, understand cultural heritage, and improve future decision-making.

Uploaded by

6fss9thr6y
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Module 1: Uncovering the Past

Social Studies are fields of study about human life and


behavior. The social studies are also known as social sciences.
People who study social studies look at how people think and
act. They also study how people form groups and relate to
other people.
The five major branches
of social studies are
culture, history,
geography, civics, and
economics.
Specific Terms of History
Terms That Identify Periods of Time

• A decade is a period of 10 years.


• A century is a period of 100 years.
• A millennium is a period of 1000 years.
• An era or age is a long period of time marked by great events.
Terms
• Used Withperiod
Prehistoric Dates is the time before people started recording history.

Circa or c. is a word used to show that historians are not sure of an exact date; it
means “about.”

BC/BCE is a term used to identify dates occurred before the birth of Jesus Christ.
BC dates get smaller as time passes, so the larger the number the earlier the date.

AD/CE is a term used to identify dates occurred after the birth of Jesus Christ. AD
dates get larger as time passes, so the larger the number the later the date.
Why do scholars study the people, events, and ideas of long ago?
or
Why do they study the past?
Historians study the past in order to learn
more about the present and the role that
economics and government have played
throughout history, but it is not always easy
to find out new information about the
distant past.

As some ancient cultures did not have


a writing system, so there are no
ancient documents that reveal facts
about them and record the lives of
people. Those cultures without a
written language are called oral
cultures, such as the
Inca civilization in south America.
Sometimes ancient documents may not provide the exact
information that historians are looking for.

They must depend on other kinds of evidence, such as physical


evidence that may include wall art, remains of tools, and pottery.
They use this physical evidence to learn about people’s ways of
life, challenges, and achievements.
Topic 1: Studying History
The people of the ancient world didn’t
invent cars, or send spaceships to Mars,
but they did remarkable things such as
building huge temples and
inventing writing.

Every step we take—in technology,


science, education, and all other fields—
builds on what people did long ago.

We are who we are because of what


people did in the past.
- What is history ?

- Why do we study history ?


or
What is the importance of
studying history?
History is the study and the documentation of the past.

The Importance of Studying History


Studying history helps us to

1- learn from the mistakes of the past, so we can improve our actions and avoid repeating the same mistakes

2- learn about the struggles/problems people have faced and how they solved them

3- to make better decisions in the future

4- pass down our culture and heritage to future generations

5- understand how today’s events are shaped by the events of the past

6- develop mental skills as history encourages you to ask important questions and forces you to analyze the facts you learn
The Father of History Herodotus was a Greek author who
lived during the 400s BC.

He has been called the Father of History as he was the first


historian to record the events that took place during that
time.
He traveled far and wide to gather lived experience from
civilizations around the world.

He was both a geographer and a historian.


- What is the main concern of
historians ?

- How do historians work ?


Historians are people who study and
write history.

Most historians specialize in studying a certain part, or aspect, of the


past as dividing the past into smaller sections helps organize history.

Historians’ main concern is human activity in the past.

They want to know how people lived and why they did the things
they did.
How and where did they work, fight, trade, and farm?
What did they do in their free time? What games did they play?
They try to learn about the problems people faced and how they
found solutions.
How do historians work?
When historians study the past, they ask many questions to
themselves. This method is called historical inquiry.
Then the answers to those questions or inquires will help them to
draw conclusions about the past.

For example: - Historians ask questions about how societies are


similar and different.
- They may also ask how leaders governed societies.

Therefore, they first identify a question that needs to be


answered.
Next, historians create educated guesses. Then, they test
these guesses by collecting data (as primary sources and
secondary sources).
Finally, they form possible conclusions based on evidence.
- What is a primary source?
Mention examples.

-What is a secondary source ?


Mention examples.
Historians use many kinds of clues to understand how
people lived in the past.
(such as primary sources and secondary sources)

About 5,000 years ago, people invented writing. They wrote laws, poems,
speeches, battle plans, letters, and many other things. In these written
sources, historians have found clues about how people lived.

1- A primary source is a firsthand account of an event created by someone


who took part in or witnessed the event such as letters, diaries, speeches,
photographs and legal documents.

2- A secondary source is a secondhand account of an event created by


someone who did not take part in or witness an event.
Examples include history textbooks, websites, journal articles, biographies,
and encyclopedias. The text you are reading right now is a secondary
source.
Historians organize information from both primary and secondary sources.
Historians often create visual secondary sources to use as tools.

One such tool, called a timeline, is a representation of a time period.


Timelines show the sequence of events within time periods. Timelines
can provide a historian with a clear understanding of when events
occurred and how they relate to one another.
Archaeology is the study of the past based on what people left behind,
such as fossils and artifacts.

Archaeologists, or people who practice archaeology, examine artifacts,


fossils, and the places where the artifacts were found to learn about the
past.
For example by studying the remains of an Egyptian temple, we can learn
more about what kinds of beliefs people held in that place and time.

A fossil is a part or imprint of something that


was once alive, such as bones and footprints.

Artifacts are objects created by and used by


humans, such as coins, arrowheads, tools,
weapons, and pottery.
The Importance of Studying Archaeology
*Archaeologists examine the objects they find
1- to learn about the past as in many cases, the objects
that people left behind are the only clues we have to
know about their life
2- to tell us about the materials that were available, level
of technological skill, how many different kinds of food
and drink they had, and so on
How can archaeologists determine the age of a historical object?
Archaeologists can tell the age of an object by comparing it to other objects found on
the same dig site. If an object is found closer to the surface, archaeologists can often
determine that that object is younger than an object found deeper in the ground. This
process is called relative dating.
Absolute dating is another way archaeologists can determine the age of an object. In
absolute dating, archaeologists study the material used to create that object to find
out how old the object may be.
Thus, archaeologists can determine the relative dating of an object by checking how
deep it was buried and determine its absolute date by analyzing its material.
Geology is a study that deals with the history
of the earth and its layers.

People who study geology, or the science and


history of the earth, are called geologists.
They study the earth’s layers, rocks, mineral
resources, and natural hazards like volcanoes,
earthquakes, and floods.

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