Time Passages: A Comparative Photo Study of Heritage Buildings

by Susan Anderson and Susan Earles, Governor General Award recipients (2003)

INTENDED GRADE/SUBJECT AREA

Grades 4/5 History, Geography, Social Studies, Language Arts and Visual Arts; could possibly be adapted for Grade 3.

CONCEPTS

• Comparison and contrast with respect to archival and modern day photographs of local heritage buildings; appreciation of community development; community member involvement; ‘hands-on’ experience in discovering their community’s heritage.

INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES

Students will:

• understand the impact early settlers had on their community;
• gain an appreciation for the preservation of local heritage sites;
• develop higher-level thinking skills by forming opinions on why changes have occurred, interpreting the information discovered in the photographs and predicting the future of historical sites;
• work cooperatively in the investigation and discovery of primary documents and handson activities.

RECOMMENDED TIME FRAME

This unit is most successful when used at the end of an in-depth study on local pioneers and the settlement of a community. It usually takes about six or eight one-hour lessons.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This Photograph Study of Local Heritage Buildings requires teachers to obtain the archival photographs from their local museums and municipal halls. The modern-day black & white photographs need to be taken from the same perspective as the archival photographs in order that students are successful in effectively comparing and contrasting.

To prepare the students for this study you can invite a local heritage restoration architect to visit the classroom and give a presentation on early materials and styles of heritage buildings. The students should be familiar with some of the local pioneer families, their stories, experiences and their contribution to the community.

To prepare students for this in-depth study, it is important to demonstrate and model an example with the whole class before distributing the photographs for cooperative group discovery.

The challenge for the students is to form opinions from the information they gather from the photographs, therefore it is important that your questions and worksheets are very specific and directed.

ACTIVITIES:

1. Distribute both the archival and modern day photographs to each cooperative group, as well as individual Student Booklets entitled Heritage Buildings, A Photo Study.

a) see Appendix for an example

b) completion time is about 3-4 one hour lessons depending on the number of photographs

c) evaluation is done by observing how well the cooperative groups perform and by marking the completed Student Booklets. This is about 30% of the final term mark for Social Studies.

2. Distribute worksheets entitled Heritage Homes Vocabulary and Heritage Homes Artifact Hunt.

a) see Appendix for an example

b) use these worksheets after the discussion and presentation by a local heritage restoration architect

c) visit Municipal Hall for pictorial inventories of Heritage Homes that often include architectural drawings and plans

d) completion time is approximately 3-4 one hour lessons

e) evaluation is done by marking the worksheets and is about 20% of the final term mark for Social Studies.

MATERIALS/RESOURCES

• archival photographs of local heritage buildings and early maps of community
• modern-day photographs of the same buildings taken from the identical perspective
• prepared student handbooks and worksheets to record cooperative group findings
• access to a local historical restoration architect and municipal hall inventories
• artifacts gathered from sites of restored heritage buildings

About the Educators

Susan Anderson and Susan Earles of Beach Grove Elementary in Delta, BC, have been collaborating on an integrated grade 4/5 local history resource for several years: “The History of Tsawwassen” and The Ladners: Researching Local Pioneers, Past v. Present: Using Geography and Anthropology. These units unearth and focus on the numerous layers of local history to be found in the Delta region. Through simulated archaeological digs, storytelling, recreated myths, quilt-designing, analysis of local heritage sites, hands-on work and comparisons with the present, students have a chance to both discover history and gain an appreciation of their place in history.