Learning Objectives

• Understand the importance of using maps and primary source documents to support the inquiry process.
• Identify best practices for using Sanborn Insurance Maps in the classroom.

Using primary source documents to understand the multiple perspectives throughout history can provide context for what is happening in the present. Robert Penn Walker, an American poet and novelist, states it well, "History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future."

Using Primary Source Documents to Discuss Difficult Topics

Primary source documents help students visualize the past and also can help to bridge a discussion into difficult topics. In this article, Journey for Justice: Helping Teens Visualize the Civil Rights Movement through Primary Sources and Graphic Novels, lesson plan ideas are included and involve a teacher and librarian collaborating to provide primary sources and discussion questions that help students dig deeper into the Civil Rights Movement. Also included in this article are six benefits to using primary sources to teach difficult topics. Primary sources:

• serve as points of entry into difficult subjects to start a conversation.
• allow students to draw important conclusions.
• allow discovery of important details about horrific events of the past, especially the often-over-looked human response.
• uncover little-known facts and different perspectives.
• help students consider the origins of prejudice and stereotypes.
• allow the learning community to confront the ghastly topics that feed contemporary fears with the benefit of a buffer created by the passage of time.

Teaching with Maps

Teaching with maps can be very engaging for students. Use the examples found in the K12 Science Portal from Carleton College and explore the database of classroom activities integrating maps into instruction. The initial activities simply share three different maps with students and ask them specific questions: What does this map show? Where is this? and Would you live here? Although these questions seem simple to answer, students will have to think deeply about what they are viewing on the map and use higher-order thinking to apply, analyze, and evaluate the different parts of the map for interpretation. Using Sanborn Insurance Maps for this type of activity would be beneficial for students to begin to understand how to read and interpret maps. 

Evaluating Information Using Sanborn Insurance Maps

The ability to evaluate information is vital for successful inquiry and developing new understandings. When students evaluate, they make inferences, compare and contrast, classify, and categorize information. Consider using primary resources to help students evaluate information. Sanborn maps are excellent primary sources, giving students a glimpse into the past. Consider asking students to compare and contrast local maps from different time periods. Encourage critical thinking by asking students to use prior knowledge to explain changes that occur in the community over time. Learn more about strategies for evaluating information and read the Teach with INFOhio blog post Inquiry and INFOhio: Evaluating Information.

Reflecting on Your Learning

1. What are two things you are doing in your classroom or instruction already that will make integrating Sanborn Insurance Maps easier?
2. What is one challenge you face in implementing Sanborn Insurance Maps as a teaching resource?
3. What steps will you take to overcome challenges to using Sanborn Insurance Maps in the classroom?
4. What features do you like most about Sanborn Insurance Maps? How will you share them with your students?