[upbeat music]
>> Jackie Katz:
I have been teaching this past
year, really with Library of
Congress primary sources.
After learning about them
during my Einstein Fellowship
during the 22/23 school year.
So today in the classroom,
we're working on exploring a
primary source related to early
ideas surrounding the universe.
And we're going to slowly
reveal a primary source to them
so that they can use evidence
that's gathered through close
observation and make claims
about what they're seeing, which
is a central practice in
science, and also start to think
about how this primary source
serves as a model for what the
humans at the time were
thinking
or understanding about
the universe.
[indistinct chatter]
How do we figure that out?
[indistinct chatter]
>> We used to think it was a
scientific model representing
the solar system, the solar
system with Earth in the middle.
Now, we think that this is a
religious scientific model
because it adds the element of
celestial beings.
>> Julia Zaldarriaga:
I really enjoy learning and
understanding things, and
primary sources really give you
like that ability because like
without a primary source, you
don't really know exactly how
things happen. You only really
get a summary.
It was obviously a good
experience any time, getting to
see a primary source is
obviously like something that
you don't get to see in every
single class, and you get to
see something like firsthand how
it happened.
>> Vedika Srikrishnan:
It was really fun
to try and like kind of decrypt
what was like put on like the
primary source itself and like
to kind of try and understand
what people thought at the time
because it's a mix of
history and science and also
language, because you kind of
have to understand like the
different words that they used
at that point in time.
So that was really fun.
I really liked it.
>> Jackie Katz:
Teachers are always looking for
new ways to engage students, and
oftentimes I think we're
looking for the newest high tech
gadget or what tech tool can I
put in front of students.
But there is so much available
there, and there's so many
different directions. You could
take it and it's free and it
really is there for all
teachers. And I think also for
students to recognize that not
all information comes from
Wikipedia, and there are other
sources out there, especially
primary sources.
The Library of Congress is a
great place to send students.
>> Avantika Palayekar:
Well, primary sources in general
are always a great place to
learn anything when
you're trying to delve deeper,
especially when it comes to the
more historical and like
scientific fields, because they
give you the knowledge of a
person from that time, that
scientific knowledge that you
wouldn't get from secondary
sources.
They give you the knowledge,
the context of that time.
And from that you can really,
truly understand how that
science was created, why it was
created, and that could just
deepen your understanding of
the topic in general.
>> Jackie Katz:
And this is not an easy practice
for anybody to adjust initial
thoughts. So this was a great
exercise with a primary source
that helped us practice useful
thinking
processes beyond the
classroom.