Asking Questions About the Past
Ask your own questions about past people, events and everyday life. Choose questions that fit what you want to learn, then look for sources that could help answer them.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Ask questions that fit what they want to learn about a historical topic, including questions about people, dates, reasons or everyday life.
- Turn curiosity about a person or event into a question that could actually be investigated
- Suggest a relevant source for a question, such as a book about the topic, a museum record, or someone's memory of a time they lived through.
1 · Read
An old photo or object can make you curious about earlier lives. Ask your own question about what you want to learn. Questions asking who, what, when, where, why or how can all help. Even a yes-or-no question may need several clues. A useful question fits your purpose and helps you decide what to look for.
Zara wants to learn when people built an old castle. She asks when building began and looks for dated records about it. If she wanted to understand the builders' reasons, she would ask why they built it. Both questions can be investigated. The question should match what Zara wants to learn.
Make a very wide question smaller. Choose a particular object, person, place or time. Instead of asking about all travel long ago, you might ask how people travelled in one town in 1920. This gives you a clearer search. A focused question may still be hard to answer if useful clues have not survived.
Choose a source that matches your question's topic, place and time. A source, such as a letter, photo or object, gives information. For a question about one old house, seek records about that house. Museums and books may help. With a trusted adult, ask someone about a time they remember. Compare their memory with other clues.
Questions about a letter need different clues. To find its words, read it. To find when it was written, look for a date and check other records. To study why the writer sent it, look at the message and what was happening then. Missing clues may leave the writer's reasons unclear.
An answer can lead to another question. After learning what an old tool was, you might ask how people used it. A yes-or-no answer can lead you to ask how we know. If useful clues are missing, say what you do not know. You can seek another source or try a smaller question.
Ask a question that fits what you want to learn. Seek matching clues and say what remains unknown.
Lesson, questions and learning cards written for this dataset.
Readings and learning cards written for this dataset. Linked video: Why do we have museums? - J. V. Maranto, TED-Ed.
More to read
What can this source show?
A source gives information about the past. It might be a letter, photograph or object. Start with your question, then ask which details in the source could help.
Imagine that you have a dated photo of one classroom. It may show desks and books in that room. It cannot show every classroom in the country. A letter may describe one person's school day, but the writer might leave things out.
Compare other clues when you can. Say which details support your answer and which parts remain unclear. Keeping an unanswered question is better than filling a gap with a guess.
Choose what you want to learn
Imagine finding an old shop sign. You could ask what its words mean, when the shop opened, or why its owner chose that name. These questions have different aims. Each can begin an investigation.
Choose one aim before searching. A question about when the shop opened needs dates. A question about its name needs clues about the owner's choice. Learning the meaning of a word may help you ask a follow-up question.
If your question covers every shop in history, try naming one shop and a time. A smaller question gives your search a clearer focus. It does not promise that an answer will survive.
Finding out about an earlier school day
Suppose you want to learn about lessons at your school before you were born. An old timetable could show the lessons that were planned. A former pupil might remember some classes. A photograph might show a classroom without telling you every lesson taught there.
Check that the sources concern your school and the time in your question. With a trusted adult, ask someone you know about their memories. They can choose what they wish to share.
Compare the clues. A timetable may not show what happened every day, and a memory may miss details. Ask a follow-up question when something is unclear. Some answers may remain unknown.
Explore more
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Optional connections
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.