My family-history

project

Pre-IB
 Purpose of this
project
To develop research skills, researching a chosen topic/historical period

To critically analyse sources, and applying the source analysis skills OPCVL/IB terminology

To communicate knowledge clearly and effectivly

To do
• Choose a historical context (topic or period eg. political, social history: The Cold
war, the russian revolution, the Prague Spring, The occupation of Denmark during WW2,
the post-war economic boom etc.

• Reseach and study the topic (secondary sources: at least two)

• Interview a family-member (an eye-witness, (eg. you grandmother) first-hand source or

secondary source) who can enlighten you about the chosen past from personal perspective)
+ Aim: to connect your personal understanding of the historical event your grandparent witnessed in
relation to two historical secondary sources.
+ Do research first, in order for you to create meaningful interview-questions. Preparation is key.

• Your research and interview must be driven by a research question.

• Do an OPCVL (critical source-analysis on your source linking to the the research

question.
The small history in the bigger history
Example:

• What were the social and economic consequences of …

• To what extent was my grandparents life affected by..

• I would have wanted to explore the social living conditions of my mother (and her family) growing up in the
post-ww2 years in the countryside in the western part of Jutland. What was every day life like (economically,
socially, education-wise, family-patterns) and how did she experience change coming from the economic
boom/building of the welfare state in the 60-70es Denmark?

• If she had been a left-wing hippie in the 1960es cultural revolution I would definitely have investigated and
interviewed her about that particular lifestyle, and the causes of it. Why did she join that movement, what did
they fight for/against and how did it impact her lifestyle. But she was not a hippie 
The final product
• Research title

• A newspaper-article (conveying
context and chosen source, eg.
communicated as an interview)

• Bibliography

• Appendix with the OPCVL

• All in all minimum 700 words.