The Fairfield Museum and History Center has been promoting Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) as part of a project begun with a Library of Congress grant in 2007. The Fairfield Museum partnered with the Fairfield University School of Education and Allied Professions and was a regional grantee through Waynesburg University of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) initiative. The Library of Congress collaborates with school districts, universities, libraries, and foundations to help teachers use the Library’s vast collection of digitized primary sources to enrich their classroom instruction.
The project provided and continues to provide high-quality Professional Development utilizing new technologies and primary sources. Teacher guides, lesson plans and other teacher tools were developed through this initiative. The TPS project served 128 teachers and school librarians who served over 11,000 students.
TPS emphasizes inquiry and utilizing primary sources to evaluate evidence, make judgments and formulate conclusions. These are recognized as “21st century skills” and serve as an important component to the new Connecticut Social Studies Frameworks which are guided by College, Career, and Civil Life (C3) Frameworks for Social Studies and reinforce Common Core English Language Arts.