Primary Sources
Context: During the past few weeks my fourth graders and I have read a variety of biographical narratives about people who have impacted the world of science. We've explored the writing style, word choice, and organization (aong with other features)that authors have used to talk about this group of people. It is now their turn to write a biography using this style of writing. The person that all of my students are going to research and write about is Jane Goodall.
The students will be asked to look at the following primary sources to help them build their understanding of Jane Goodall's life as a scientist.
Sidenote: Finding primary resources for Jane Goodall was more complicated than I originally thought. I did however find that the mecca for Jane Goodall primary sources is the National Geographic website. If you click on the pictures they'll lead you to their exact location on the site.
Jane Goodall's Journal Entry
This is a great primary source! In class, we've talked about how important it is for scientist to document things they see. Today, it's easy for scientists to snap pictures, but it hasn't always been that easy. Drawing pictures and creating diagrams is a big part of scientific work. I would love to have my students use this resource to talk about how Jane Goodall kept a notes of her work in Africa.
Photograph by Hugo Van Lawick
This picture is of Jane Goodall holding a National Geographic Society flag with a primate friend. I'm including this picture because I want my student to see the connection Goodall had with National Geographic.
Photograph by Hugo Van Lawick
This picture takes you directly to Goodall's article for the National Geographic, Life Among Wild Chimpanzees. It is a wonderful narrative about her experience in the wild. Hopefully my students are able to pull out some anecdotes to better support their biographical narrative.
Photograph by David Bygott
This picture was taken in 1971, and it is of chimpanzees with their prey. We've read a little in class about one of Goodall's discoveries, that chimpanzees are carnivores. This picture will hopefully help my students process that information. And see chimpanzee's as the complex creatures that they are.
Photograph by Jane Goodall
This picture was taken by Jane Goodall and it accompanies a piece Goodall wrote for National Geographic, Life and Death at Gombe. Once again, I hope that my students are able to take anecdotes from this piece to describe Goodall in a more well-rounded way.