Class: Junior Secondary School 1 (JSS1)
Term: First Term
Week: 3
Age: 12 years
Duration: 45 minutes
Subject: History
Curriculum Theme: History
Previous Lesson: Primary Sources, Oral Tradition and Artifacts
Topic: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources of History
Subject Matter: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources of History

Specific Objectives

By the end of the lesson, learners should be able to:

define primary, secondary and tertiary sources;
classify familiar historical materials by their relationship to an event or research task;
explain why the same item may be classified differently in another enquiry;
construct a source-classification table with reasons;

Reference Materials

9-Year Basic Education Curriculum for History
Approved JSS1 History textbook and state scheme of work
Teacher-checked library, museum or archive material relevant to the topic

Instructional Materials

source cards showing a diary, interview, textbook, encyclopedia, catalogue and research article
three-column classification chart
short research questions

Rationale for the Lesson

Source classification helps learners choose evidence intelligently. The lesson also prevents rote labelling by showing that provenance, date, purpose and the research question matter.

Prerequisite/Previous Knowledge

Learners can identify books, photographs, objects and oral accounts as places from which information may be obtained.

Lesson Content/Board Summary

Meaning of a Historical Source

A historical source is any item, record or testimony from which information about the past can be obtained. Sources are often grouped as primary, secondary and tertiary according to their relationship to the event or subject being studied.

Three Main Groups

Primary source: created during the period or by a direct participant or witness, such as a letter, law, photograph, artifact, interview or diary.
Secondary source: later analysis or interpretation based on primary and other sources, such as a scholarly history book, journal article or documentary.
Tertiary source: summary or finding aid that organises information from other sources, such as an encyclopaedia, catalogue, index, timeline or bibliography.

Classification Depends on the Question

A school textbook is usually secondary for the event it describes, but it can become a primary source when a researcher studies what schools taught in the year it was published. No category automatically means “true”. Check authorship, date, purpose, evidence and agreement with independent sources.

Classification Examples

A 1960 newspaper report used to study independence reporting is primary.
A 2025 scholarly article interpreting several 1960 newspapers is secondary.
A library index that lists those newspapers and articles is tertiary.

The useful sequence is often: use a tertiary source to locate a secondary study, then follow its references to primary evidence.

Source Record

For every source, record creator, title or description, date, place, source type and where it can be found again. Add one sentence on what it reveals and one on what it cannot answer. This small record prevents a photograph without a date or an online quotation without an author from being treated as complete evidence.

Teaching Methods/Instructional Techniques

Source-based enquiry, guided observation, modelling, comparison, collaborative analysis and evidence-focused questioning.

Instructional Procedures

Step 1: Source Sort

Time: 5 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Distributes unlabelled source cards.
Learners’ Activity: Group the cards and state the rule used.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 2: Definitions

Time: 9 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Explains primary, secondary and tertiary sources in relation to a research question.
Learners’ Activity: Record a definition and one example of each.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 3: Classification Model

Time: 10 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Thinks aloud while classifying an interview, textbook and encyclopedia.
Learners’ Activity: Identify origin, date, purpose and relationship to the event.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 4: Question Changes Classification

Time: 9 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Changes the research question for one source.
Learners’ Activity: Reconsider its classification and defend the answer.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 5: Review

Time: 7 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Checks classification and reasons, not labels alone.
Learners’ Activity: Complete a five-item source table.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Objective-aligned checks:

define primary, secondary and tertiary sources.
classify familiar historical materials by their relationship to an event or research task.
explain why the same item may be classified differently in another enquiry.

Step 6: Conclusion

Time: 5 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Summarises the lesson through the research question and corrects unsupported claims.
Learners’ Activity: State one conclusion, its supporting evidence and one remaining question.

Lesson Keywords

history — evidence-based study of the past
source — material from which information is obtained
evidence — information used to support or question a claim
interpretation — an explanation based on selected evidence
context — the circumstances surrounding a source or event

Lesson Evaluation

Define primary, secondary and tertiary sources.
Classify a diary, textbook and encyclopedia for a stated enquiry.
Give one reason for each classification.
Explain why date alone does not determine a source type.
State one use and one limitation of each source category.

Assignment/Homework

Select three sources at home or in a library. For each, record its creator, date, purpose, category for a chosen history question and one reason for the classification.

Differentiation

Support: Provide labelled source cards, sentence starters and a partially completed evidence table.
Extension: Learners classify a later interview with an eyewitness and explain why it is primary testimony but not a recording made at the time of the event.
Accessibility: Permit paired reading, oral recording, enlarged print or tactile-safe replicas where appropriate.

Note for Teachers

Do not teach source categories as permanent labels. Classification is relational: it depends on what is being investigated and how the source connects to it.