How is our life different from those who lived in the past and how is it the same?

Download Primary Source Set: Life Now vs. Life Long Ago

The focus is to compare different times and different places and how certain aspects of life change over time while some things stay the same. Schools, communities, and transportation of the past provide areas of study that students are familiar with in the present. Teachers can also examine such areas as work, clothing, games, and holidays to compare with the students’ lives today, using the frame, How is our life different from the past and how is it the same?Informational books and stories, such as My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston, can help students develop historical empathy and understand life in the past. Primary sources can be introduced by using photographs (and videos or artifacts) of schools, transportation, and clothing.