LADHSSA
Student Number: 55455514
Assignment 1 | Unique code: 567797
INDEX
Declaration
3
Question 1
4
Question 2
7
Question 3
9
Bibliography
11
2021/04/28
Question 1
Historical evidence and historical sources
Historical evidence can be confused with historical sources. There is however a
difference between historical evidence and historical sources. Historical evidence is
a source that we use to paint a picture of the past. Literarily every image or object
and even a building or something written on a piece of paper or landscape can be a
source that can be a piece of evidence that can help us understand the past.
Historical source or better known as historical data or material is an original source
that contains information of the history of something specific. A source can become
evidence when we use it to answer questions about the past published books,
newspapers and magazine clippings published at a certain time. This sources can be
used as evidence to show that something specific happened at a certain time.
Photographs, audio recordings and video recordings can also be a source the
provides evidence of a historical event.
“There are more sources about recent past (WW2) than about the distant past (The
San people)” (TL 501:125). According to this argument, sources get lost, are stolen
or burned or even damaged over time to the extent where it is no longer useful. An
example is one from Ancient Egypt, where the tomb robbers robbed all but one
Egyptian Pharaoh’s tomb. (TL 501:125)
Primary and secondary sources
Primary in Latin is primaries and means first. This show that a primary source means
the first source. The primary sources will always date back to the actual time in the
past when the event they record, occurred. The primary source has the exact date of
the happening or comes from the person that witnessed the happening. An example
of a primary source will be a recording of someone confessing something that they
did, not something that they heard from someone else. Primary sources can include
things like a journal that was written during a war or a period of time. “They can be in
the form of an illustration such as paintings, engravings, maps or photographs”
(TL501: 126). An excellent example is the written primary sources of Sol Plaatje’s
diary that have been published. (Matthews et al 1992:41).
There are questions to ask to confirm if it is a primary source:
• Is it authentic, that is, is it what it seems to be?
• Is it a relic or a record?
• If a record, who wrote or drew it?
• If a relic, how reliable is it?
• Is the evidence it gives typical?
Secondary sources analyse an intellectual question and often use primary sources to
prove the secondary source. Secondary sources are almost of the time in either
written or pictorial form. Secondary sources are usually, produced at
some time after the event or period which they describe or portray. We can say that
secondary sources provide “second hand” information and observations from other
researchers. Examples of secondary sources are textbooks, reference books and
models such as the facsimile of Dias’s caravel found in the Maritime Museum at
Mossel Bay (Matthews et al 1992:41). The questions to ask about a secondary
source is:
• What sources have been used to produce it?
• Are the sources on which the secondary source is based authentic and reliable?
• Are the historian’s sources typical, that is, what sources have not been used?
• Is the historian biased in any way?
Material sources and relics from the past
Material sources are skulls and bones or better known as fossils. This is material sources
that help us to prove something in history or we use it as evidence of history. These items
include household articles such as clay pots, dishes, jewellery, lamps, clothing, urns and
general everyday articles. Implements such as arrow heads, spears, ploughs, et cetera;
architectural sources such as buildings, roads and bridges and monetary sources such as
shells, beads, coins, paper money and various currencies can also be material sources.
Relics from the past is something that we no longer used or consider as modern like a
typewriter. It is possible to find a typewriter, it is not easy but somewhere we will be able to
fine one, relics from the past which we can see and touch are called archaeological remains.
According to Sauvin 1988:47 & 51; Brits 1993:19 there is a check list to check whether
something is a material sources or relics from the past:

What was the purpose of the utensil, tool, machine, vehicle or building you are
studying?

What was it used for? Why was it built or made?

Can you date the object or building either exactly or approximately?

Where is it situated now or where was it found? Where did it come from originally?

What does it tell us about people in the past?
Oral sources
Oral means with a voice, this is word of mouth stories what was told and recorded for
people to listen to. Oral histories are given by a person of happenings earlier in their
life and this was usually recorded by a friend or family member or in a form of an
interview. Oral history is better known as spoken history. It consists of recollections
about the past which are told to a historian rather than written down on paper. Oral
histories are valuable. Oral history allows people to share their stories in their own
words using their own voices, through their own understanding of what happened
and why it happened. Examples of oral sources will be a tape recording, video
recording of someone or of an interview.
Written sources or documentary evidence
Documentary evidence is any evidence that can be introduced at a trial in the form of
documents, as eminent from an oral testimony. Documentary evidence is understood
as something that refer to writings on paper like an invoice, a contract or a will. The
term can also apply to any media by which evidence can be preserved like a
photographs, something that that needs a device to be viewed like a tape recording
or film and a printed form of digital evidence like as emails or spreadsheets.
It also includes material written by people of the time who experienced or observed
the event. Examples of documentary evidence can be letters, diaries, official
documents, journals, biographies, memoirs and chronicles. Newspapers,
advertisements, magazines, brochures and pamphlets are also printed written
sources. The great advantage of newspapers and magazines as historical sources is
that they were written at the time as contemporary news reports so they are primary
sources.
Bias and prejudice
When a source is biased it generally means that it favours one side or gives
one specific view of an event. Bias and prejudice means almost the same. There are
many different types of bias like cognitive biases, conflicts of interest and statistical
biases. There are also many causes for bias to take place like Intentional bias,
limited access to information, particular purpose behind a source and beliefs or
feelings of the producer of the source. Do not instantaneously assume that a biased
source is deceitful and of no use. Historians need to be aware of bias and take it into
account in their work. It must be emphasised that a biased source can be useful to
historians. There are three things to look for if you want to notice bias in a source:
the balance in the selection of facts, the language and the background. An example
of a bias is an advertisement, it only shows you the good about the product and not
the bad or negative side of the product.
Prejudice is prejudgment, or developing an opinion before becoming aware of the
important facts. It is rather preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or
actual experience. An example of prejudice and discrimination based on race is
called racism.
Question 2
Generalisation is a general statement or concept obtained by inference from specific
cases. Doctor Robert Sweetland defines generalizations as summaries of
relationships between concepts, summaries of cause and effect, or summaries of
prediction of future relationships. They are powerful as they provide a way to
consolidate information to make it more usable and easier to remember. To
generalise in the social science classroom is to take a specific concept and explain
the general knowledge of the concept as well as the happenings. When general
knowledge of a specific topic is explained and understood by students, they can
apply this general knowledge in any situation or topic that is similar to the one that
was explained to them. Generalization is the ability to use skills that a learner has
learned in new and different environments. An example of this is to teach learners
about specific things to identify in a war so that they know when it is a war and what
happened in different wars like the Revolutionary War or the war of 1812 or the
Mexican - American War. If the learners know how to generalise and have
knowledge about wars, it will be easy for them identify the different wars.
Stuart (1989:25) explain generalisation as follows:
“Generalisations, typifications, regularities and patterns can help pupils to formulate
hypotheses regarding the future and to approach the future with certain
expectations.”
A lot of exclusive events with similar characteristics, allows for generalisations to
be formed. Wars, capitalism, revolutions, resistance, dictatorships, conflict,
exploitation and democracy are all terms which relate to the general.
The following examples are ways generalisation can be taught in a Social Sciences
classroom:
Example 1: Oppression/Resistance
These themes are used largely across the Social Sciences curriculum and are
exposed in many historical events such as apartheid, slavery, colonisation or
genocide, etc. The exercise can be to interview 10 elderly black people who were
part of apartheid and find correspondences in their circumstances.
Example 2: Colonisation in Grade 8, Term 3
Learners can work through the following events: Dutch settlement, British settlement
and French Hugenot immigration to the Cape.
After learners have become familiar with these events, they will be required to
record similar characteristics of the different power structures. The answers of the
learners may include:
1. Abuse of women and children by these power structures
2. Partaking in activities such as the import and export of slaves
3. Heavily involved in economy trade and commerce, etc.
Where generalisations are used in order for learners to gain knowledge of a
concept like slavery in the broad term of the word, teachers that teaches Social
Sciences must focus on unique events or persons so that they may be able to
construct a general knowledge of that concept.
Stuart (1989:25) explains uniqueness as follows:
“The general pertain to a knowledge of mankind in terms of authentically human
characteristics such as ambition, perspicacity, abuse of power, loyalty and fear.
Unique events, on the other hand, exemplify these authentically human
characteristics.”
We can provide a never-ending list of examples from history to prove the concept of
uniqueness, but the purpose here is to point out how the general, universal
characteristics are illuminated by unique, particular events and persons (Stuart
1982:69–70).
A few examples of unique historical events which exemplify general human
characteristics is the signing of the 1939 Munich Agreement – deceit, and the
resolution of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis – fear.
Examples of how uniqueness may be taught in a Social Sciences
classroom:
Example 1 Grade 9, Terms 3 & 4
Provide learners with a list of South African historical figures from 1948 onwards who
played a role in apartheid, give the list to the learners in the form of pictures or
slides. Ask learners to note down the feelings which are invoked when they look at
each character. They may also jot down the different types of characteristics they
can think of for each person.
Example 2 Grade 9, Term 1 (Hitler’s dictatorship)
Adolf Hitler established an absolute dictatorship once he was in power from 1933
onwards. Teaching about dictatorship - teacher acts as a dictator in the classroom,
separating learners into “worthy” and “non-worthy” groups according to their hair
length, eye-colour, etc. Tell learners to bow down to teacher whenever an instruction
is given. Such an activity will simulate a totalitarian regime.
Analogy is a thinking process of shifting information or meaning from a particular
subject to another, or a morphological expression corresponding to such a process.
The analogy method in the classroom is the teaching of a new topic by connecting it
with familiar information. By making use of analogies in the classroom it is an
effective strategy as learners tend to find it easier to understand a lesson when
teachers form connections between the new topic and what they have already been
taught. It can be used in progressive learners' classrooms because it encourages
students to utilize their greatest strengths according to Lisa Lombardi (August 27,
2018) Being able to learn from past mistakes is a great benefit and therefore it is
important to try to not repeat those as it can cause major conflicts when considering
the political standpoint of things (TL501: 171).
Here are some examples of analogous patterns:
Example 1 Grade 9, Term 2
The Berlin wall that symbolised the Cold War separated communist East Germany
and capitalist West Berlin from August 1961 to November 1989. The wall was also
built to stop East Germans from fleeing to the west. This separated family and
many East German people were not capable to go back to their jobs in the west. In
early 2017, Donald Trump had set in motion the building of a wall between the
United States of America and Mexico to restrict illegal immigration into the US. The
same implications faced by the German families of during 1961 and 1989 are likely
to be experienced with the Mexico wall.
Example 2 Grade 9, Terms 3 & 4
During apartheid, white people had economic and educational privileges that black
people did not. Today, the Black Economic Empowerment programme redresses
those inequalities by giving black people those privileges. In teaching this analogy, I
will give the class mock money – some more than others according to eye colour,
hair colour, etc., then make them pay for books and stationery. When they run out of
money, they need to leave the classroom. This will enable them to understand how
the disadvantaged remain disadvantaged.
Question 3
We know that fact is something that is true and can be proved whereas opinion is
someone’s own point of view and cannot be supported by evidence. Before handing
out the worksheet to the Grade 7 class, I will play a PowerPoint of the differences
between fact and opinion, thereafter we will have a 10-minute discussion using the
school context as an example. i.e., “I am the Grade 7 History Teacher, but I teach
English as well.”; “Thabo’s favourite subject must be Mathematics because he
always scores good marks in Maths.” Learners need to identify whether the
statements are fact, or opinion and come up with their own examples to test their
knowledge.
Name and surname: ____________________________
Class: ____
Date: __________
Worksheet 1
Section A
1. Explain the difference between a fact and an opinion.
(2)
2. Read the following extract which was written by a Chinese writer then for each
statement, write whether it is fact or opinion. Explain your answer.
The people that we call Red-hairs or Red Barbarians (the Portuguese) are identical with the
Hollanders and they live in the Western Ocean. They are covetous (greedy) and running, are
very knowledgeable concerning valuable merchandise and are very clever in the pursuit of
gain (money). They will risk their lives in search of profit, and no place is too remote for them
to frequent (visit). Their ships are very large, strong and well-built, and they are called in
China double-planked ships. These people are very resourceful and inventive. They make sails
like spider’s webs, which can be set at any angle to catch the wind. If one falls in with them at
sea, one is certain to be robbed by them.
(Dugmore, C, Mulholland, R, Nussey, R & Torr, L 1998. Making History Grade 8.
Johannesburg: Heineman, p. 101)
2.1 The people that we call Red-hairs or Red Barbarians (the Portuguese) are identical with the
Hollanders and they live in the Western Ocean.
(2)
2.2 They are covetous (greedy) and running, are very knowledgeable concerning valuable
merchandise and are very clever in the pursuit of gain (money).
(2)
2.3. They will risk their lives in search of profit, and no place is too remote for them to frequent
(visit).
(2)
2.4 Their ships are very large, strong and well-built, and they are called in China double-planked
ships.
(2)
2.5. These people are very resourceful and inventive.
(2)
2.6 They make sails like spider’s webs, which can be set at any angle to catch the wind.
(2)
2.7. If one falls in with them at sea, one is certain to be robbed by them.
(2)
3. Why do you think the Chinese writer felt the way he did about the Hollanders?
(2)
4. Why does he say they are identical with the Portuguese?
(1)
5. What does he mean when he says “they are very clever in the pursuit of gain”?
(2)
6. Do you think the writer is biased in any way? Explain your answer.
(2)
7. Why would one be “robbed” by the Hollanders?
(1)
8. Copy the table below and write down 3 words from the extract which can be
regarded as fact and three words which are opinion
FACTS
OPINIONS
Section B
Study the maps of colonialism in Southeast Asia below and answer the questions
which follow.
(6)
1. Why do think the map was drawn. What does it show?
(2)
2. Which European country has colonised most of Southeast Asia by 1890?
(1)
3. What changes has taken place between 1782 and 1920?
(2)
4. What attitude towards the Indonesian archipelago and the Dutch empire might
a Dutch and an Indonesian learner learn from this map?
(2)
5. When did the Dutch government take control of the assets of the V.O.C?
(1)
6. How and when did Dutch rule in India come to an end?
(2)
TOTAL:40
Bibliography
Dr Sweetland, R,. ‘Facts, Concepts and Generalizations – Explanations, examples,
and instructional ideas.’, Doctor Robert Sweetland’s Notes©. Generalization.
Accessed March 10, 2018. http://homeofbob.com/glossaries/fctsConGen.html
(Accessed March 10, 2018)
Schoeman, S. & Dreyer, JM. 2007. Teaching social sciences. Pretoria: University of
South Africa.
Stuart, JF. 1993. Subject Didactics history. Pretoria: Unisa. The New York Times, 3
September, 1939.