Introduction

The instructional use of primary sources in social studies and history courses has been advocated by many scholars in the field (Barton, 2005; Cleary & Neumann, 2009; Morgan & Rasinski, 2012; Sandwell, 2008;  VanSledright, 2004).  Furthermore, many historical and educational association including National Council for Social Studies [NCSS] (2010), American Historical Association (2003),  Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (n.d.). and National Center for History in the Schools (1996)  encourage teachers to integrate primary sources in social studies and history courses and emphasize the importance of inservice training to apply primary sources based teaching. 

Primary sources are those records created in the past, including variety of written records such as official documents, diaries, and letters; and some visuals such as photographs and even artifacts (Sandwell, 2008; Torrez & Waring, 2009). Integrating primary sources in social studies classes gives students the opportunity to assume the roles of historians and social scientists as they draw their own conclusions (Sandwell, 2008). According to Sandwell, using primary sources in the classroom has two main benefits for students. First, it may increase student’s attentions and curiosity as the teacher introduces unconventional materials such as diaries or letters to the classroom. Second, primary sources used by teachers, either  supporting or contradicting the content knowledge within the textbook, may help students’ understanding of the topic as all sources should be analyzed and discussed during the class.

Although primary source based teaching encouraged by many professional organizations, this teaching methodology has not been used at the expected levels.  Social studies and history teachers tend to teach mostly based on the textbooks (Mason Bolick, 2006; Torrez & Waring, 2009) rather than using primary sources.  Identifying suitable primary sources  that match with the textbook content, and difficulty of locating these sources are considered as the main reasons that prevents teachers from using them (Sandwell, 2008; Torrez & Waring, 2009). 

On the other hand, primary source based instruction is only at the beginning stage in Turkey. The literature on this issue is mostly focused on benefits of using primary sources (Dilek, 2007); how to integrate primary sources in history and social studies lessons (Doğan, 2008); and  introducing primary source project from different parts of the World (Ata, 2011; Doğan & Dinç, 2007).  A recent study, conducted on 178 social studies preservice teachers, indicated that these preservice teachers understood the importance of primary sources in teaching history, but they did not feel that they got appropriate training in their teacher education program in order to be able to apply this teaching method in their future career (Dönmez & Altıkulaç, 2014).

Purpose of the study and research questions

As Dönmez and Altıkulaç’s (2014) study clearly showed that, Turkish preservice social studies teachers need to learn how to use primary sources in the classroom. In order to do that, first preservice teachers must get acquainted with primary sources. Thus, the purpose of this study is to integrate primary source based instruction in the undergraduate method course; investigate preservice social studies teachers’ views and experiences about the use of primary sources in the classroom; and identify difficulties they encountered during the application of this teaching method. Therefore the following research questions were generated.

1. What are the preservice social studies teachers’ views about the use of primary sources in the classroom?
2. What are the difficulties and problems preservice teachers encountered while analyzing primary sources?

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