How can we find out about the past?

Criteria D Formative Assessment

For each source, answer all these questions using full sentences and make sure you refer to the sources
in your answers. TYPE YOUR ANSWERS UNDER EACH QUESTION.

Origin – Guiding questions Purpose – Guiding Questions

 What is the medium or format of the
source? (picture, artifact, newspaper,
video, etc.)
 Is it a primary or secondary source?
 Who is the author/creator?
 Where was it written/created?
 When was it written/created?
 For what purpose was the source
created? (Persuade? Inform?
Entertain?)
– How do we know that?
(Evidence to support)
 For what audience was it created for?
– How do we know that?
 What was the goal of the source?
– How do we know that?

PART 1: SOURCE EVALUATION

SOURCE A

a. What is the origin of Source A?

This is a silver coin showing a denarius known as the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius from Ancient
Rome. He ruled Ancient Rome between 161 ce and 180ce. This is a secondary source, and the other
informations are unknown.

b. What is the purpose of Source A?

The purpose of Source A is to spreqd the information about the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
The audience are the modern people, like us.

c. What knowledge does Source A give you?

From Source A, it would give me the knowledge of Ancient Rome, Denarius, and Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius.
d. Who might use this sort of source?
 I think anyone can use it. Students learning history would be more likely to use this source rather
than an average adult.

e. What are the problems that may come from using this source? Identify the limitations of the
source.
This coin seems a little burnt, and the edge of the coin is scraped off. It is also hard to see the words
written on the coin.

SOURCE B
f. What is the origin of Source B?
This is a cave painting of a bison (genus of bovines) from Spain, near cave at Santander. It was
thought to have been made during the Upper Paleolithic period of the Stone Age which is
somewhere between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago.

g. What is the purpose of Source B?

The purpose of Source B is to spread about the cave painting of a bison.

h. What reasons does Source B give that Stone age man was a carnivore?
I do not eat meat, so I don’t have much information about it, but I am assuming that the redness of
a bison shows that they killed the bison and is trying to eat them. Few of the bison’s bones are
visible.

i. How might these artefacts be useful for historians? Identify the value of this source.
If I was someone studying history, this cave painting would help me with the information that they used to
eat any animals that they killed during hunting, and that they were brave.
SOURCE C
j. What is this type of Source known as?
This type of source is known as Primary Source

k. What knowledge does Source C give you?

This Source C gives me the information of China’s Terracotta Warriors buried with the Emperor Qin.
They were most likely from the date around 209bce. This was located near Xi’an in China.

l. How might this source help us understand time and place?

This source might help us understand time with how the orange color faded as time passes by. How
they’re dressed, shows the Chinese traditional outfits and is helping us understand the place.

m. Who might use this knowledge?

This knowledge might be helpful for archaeologists. It might be interesting for foreigners when visiting
China, who wants to know more about China’s history.
PART 2: PARAGRAPH WRITING
Use your answers and your own knowledge to answer this question in a paragraph:

“It is impossible to write ancient history because we do not have enough sources and impossible to write
modern history because we have far too many”. Charles Pierre Peguy.
What is your opinion? Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?

Point I agree. The statement suggests that it is impossible to write modern history because
we have far too many sources.

Evidence In the past, scarcity of sources made it challenging to write ancient history, but now
with advancements in technology and research capabilities, we have access to a vast
number of sources that allow us to piece together events and developments of the
past.

Explanation On the other hand, modern times are well-documented, with countless primary and
secondary sources readily available. This abundance of information can make it
challenging to navigate through and analyze all the sources, resulting in information
overload and potentially leading to contradictory or incomplete narratives.

Link/ Therfore, while I acknowledge the difficulty in writing ancient history due to limited
Conclusion sources, I also recognizze that the opposite problem of too many sources can also
hinder the writing of modern history. Both challenges require specific approaches and
expertise to navigate effectively.

Criterion D: Critical Thinking

Maximum: 8

Achievement Level descriptor

level
0 The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below.
1–2 ii. rarely uses information to justify opinions
iii. identifies the origin and purpose of limited sources/data (1 Source)
3–4 ii. justifies opinions with some information
iii. identifies the origin and purpose of sources/data (2 Sources)

5–6 ii. gives sufficient justification of opinions using information

iii. identifies the origin and purpose of a range of sources/data (3 Sources)
7–8 ii. gives detailed justification of opinions using information
iii. consistently identifies and analyses a range of sources/data in terms of origin and
purpose (3 Sources)