by Ashleigh D. Coren and Erin Durham
This case study examines the development of materials to support a course focused on theoretical and empirical work in comparative politics. Instructors created a lesson plan and active learning activities, curated a teaching collection, and developed assessment plans. They delivered this as a fifteen-minute lecture, two twenty-minute activities, and a twenty-minute debriefing for discussion and questions. Desired outcomes were to help students understand that archival research is iterative, and that archival materials are not objective or neutral. Assessment through critical reflection indicated the need to include an even greater emphasis on the iterative and ambiguous nature of historical research, as well of the benefits of modeling primary source analysis before asking students to complete their own analysis.
Access: Utilizing University Archives to Teach Students the Complexities of Neutrality