TPS Mississippi Cognitive Tasks
The purpose of this document is to provide districts, schools, and teachers a scope and sequence of cognitive tasks associated with teaching with primary sources. This document includes four major cognitive tasks categories (Identifying Primary Sources, Finding Primary Sources, Analyzing Primary Sources and Using Primary Sources) and supporting cognitive tasks for each category. Supporting tasks are aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards for Writing and Reading as well as the Common Core State Standards Literacy and Writing in History/Social Studies Grades 6-12 Standards and Bloom’s Taxonomy. The goal is to assist both Social Studies and ELA teachers teach with primary sources while supporting ELA/English standards in their instruction. The document provides recommendations on when tasks should be introduced to (I), practiced by (P), and mastered (M) by students at the elementary (3rd-5th), middle (6th-8th), and high (9th– 12th) school levels. The cognitive tasks were derived from existing tasks from the original Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program objectives, is informed by other researchers’ work (e.g. Barton & Levstick, 2004; NCSS, 2013; Ritchart, Church, & Morrison, 2011; Wineburg, 1999), and our experiences teaching with primary sources since 2012. The skills are designed to be taught using the gradual release of responsibility (Demonstration, Shared Demonstration, Guided Practice, Independent Practice. (Pearson & Gallagher, 1993)
