Source Analysis: The Atlantic Slave Trade

One can't roll their sleeves up to work as a History teacher without feeling comfortable with source analysis. Over my years as a teacher I've come across many scaffolds and acronyms designed to help students with this historical skill, and I think it's fair to say there's no hard and fast hierarchy to which one works the best. Whether it's AMOUR, COMBAT, TOMACPRU, OPVL, IOP CAM, TADPOLE or something else, it doesn't really matter which one is used so long as the student understands why it's used and can remember what each letter stands for. 

It's also important for the teacher to feel confident about which one they teach and that they're consistent so students don't get overwhelmed with multiple acronyms. Also, even if they're taught just one acronym, it's important for students to understand that there are other alternatives out there in the pedagogical world. If this isn't mentioned then some students may believe that the one they've been taught must be the best one (or, worse, the only one) and this can cause issues if they later find themselves in front of another teacher or in another school where a different approach is taught. 

Me, personally? I can never remember acronyms and I find them restrictive. I always prefer to try and think about sources in the way that a historian does, which means that not every source offers the same types of information. Acronyms seem a little limited in this sense. 

There's also a question of depth when looking at sources and the need to differentiate for students who may not be able to initially engage with sources at higher levels. What I want is to see students working from identifying basic information up to being able to use a source as evidence in response to a question. So this involves a levelled scaffold. I don't make any claim to inventing this - it's a synthesis of all those who come before me and is essentially just my attempt to reorganise various methods into a common approach that works for me. Anyway, here it is:

• Level 1: Basics - who wrote the source, what's it about, when was it written, where was the source found, how was the source delivered at the time of publication, and why was it written? 

This is about looking at the source in it's simplest terms and comprehending it. The student needs to locate answers to the who, what, when, where, how, and why of the source, however, it should be made clear to them that not all of the questions are applicable all of the time. These questions (like every other part of this scaffold) are simply a range of prompts to promote engagement.

• Level 2: Questioning - what's the point of this source? What makes it significant in terms of how we understand the past? That is to say, why might this be an important source for modern people to see?

This part is about 'zooming out' and looking at the source holistically to determine a central thesis or purpose behind it. It also essentially encourages students to think about the historical concept of significance. Again, just responding to one of the prompts above would be enough.

• Level 3: Closer Analysis - who was the intended audience for this source at the time of writing? Who is the audience for the source now? Do we think this source conveys information about the time authentically and, depending on the answer, why or why not? What sort of biases can be recognised? 

This is where we start looking at the reliability of the source and gauging the level of bias. I think it's important to teach students that all sources are biased in some way or another, it's just a matter of determining what that bias is or why some information has been left out. Politics and postmodernism aside, the practical problem with considering some sources as objective is that it leads to some students simply saying that a source is "biased" or "not biased" and leaving it at that. If we want students to provide detailed analysis about the nature of a source's bias then we may need to take away the option of considering sources from a binary biased/unbiased point of view. 

• Level 4: Evaluation - how useful is the source in answering a key question? How can it be used to answer a question? How would a historian use this source in the course of their own research?

This final stage is often the hardest for some students to grapple with as it involves historical thinking and some degree of higher order thinking. Students need to consider the usefulness of a source but, if they don't have a historian's purpose established, this can be really difficult. Students therefore need to have a question in mind when they answer this part of the scaffold. In the absence of a teacher-supplied question, more advanced students can be asked to consider how this source is useful in conveying a syllabus dot point, or how a historian might use it in the pursuit of a particular agenda.

Lesson Idea: The Atlantic Slave Trade

I would preface the use of this source by telegraphing the use of racist language reflective of historical context. This helps students maintain historical distance from potentially distressing content and sets the tone for how we look at this sort of language in the classroom.

The previous described scaffold has worked well for me with all stages of high school history - it's just a matter of adjusting how students engage with each level of the scaffold and pitching the language at their age group. The scaffold can be modified to connect to a specific source and students can then work their way through it by examining the source four times, moving up a level each time. 

Here is an example that would work well with examining the Atlantic Slave Trade with a Year 9 or Year 10 class. 

1. Start by giving students a question. Here's the example:

Imagine you are a historian studying the question, "What was life like for slaves in America in the 19th century?"

2. This comes with a scaffold - Source Analysis Activity.

3. Work with students through a PowerPoint that guides their response to the Slave Trade source using the four different levels of questions. This can be found here - Source Analysis PowerPoint.

The source included is a primary source related to the sale of slaves. As teacher, you might want to work through responding to the source first so that you have a good idea of the range of answers that might be possible. Students are to complete their scaffold level by level while you work through the PowerPoint as a class.

As mentioned there are more than a handful of different approaches to source analysis. This is just one that works for me and you're welcome to try it too! 

Disclaimer: The above activity was compiled specifically for this blog.