Gather and organize packets of primary sources for each student or group of students. Consider using resources available on the website from the Library of Congress or the Board of Cooperative Educational Services. Each group will have a different topic, such as Assimilation, Civil War Music or the Constitution, to be summarized and discussed.
Instruct the students to provide a basic PowerPoint presentation that summarizes each source as well as five to ten discussion questions to be answered by the class.
Questions could be provided by the instructor or created by the group and could focus on the original purpose of the document or photo or the widespread reaction of the public to the document or photo. The group will then be responsible for leading a discussion and reaching a conclusion about their primary sources.
Each group will be evaluated by the instructor as part of their final grade.
High-level history courses also include instruction about cause-and-effect relationships in history. Consider assigning each group or each student to a certain historical event such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Dust Bowl or 19th Century Immigration and have the group create its own set of primary sources.
Provide examples of a primary source set. Allow the students to use their own creativity and knowledge of the historical event to recreate original documents, letters and photos that would break down the effects of the event on the general population.