Academic standard:
- Year 9: Students interpret, process, analyse and organise information from a range of primary and secondary sources and use it as evidence to answer inquiry questions.
- Year 10: Students process, analyse and synthesise information from a range of primary and secondary sources and use it as evidence to answer inquiry questions.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=17KxUaJjS-NaXPkysxw6lGzySqSO2M9P-
What does that mean?
In everyday words:
Primary sources are sources that were written by a person experiencing the event or time or artefacts found from an event or time.
Secondary sources are sources that are, generally, written after the event/time and uses knowledge of primary sources to analyse or document the time/event.
Let’s talk:
But what does this mean and how can we link this to an inquiry question?
Let’s use the lense of Medival Combat. Here is my inquiry question: Is medieval combat accurately portrayed in media?
To understand this, we need to know how did medieval knights fight, how do we know (primary sources), and what analysis has been done (secondary sources)?
We know a lot about how medieval knights fought; they wrote books on the topic. Were you surprised? I was.
The following discussion is based on the works of Fiore De’i Liberi. Fiore was a knight in the late 14th to early 15th centuries. He was a mercenary fencing master who was either a low tier of nobility or a member of the imperial free knights.
Fiore wrote several manuals but a basic cover of them can be found here.
https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Fiore_de%27i_Liberi
Fiore documented his fighting style himself. The significant sections of work consist of grappling, dagger, the sword in one hand, the sword in two hands, the sword in armour, the poleaxe, spear, and mounted combat.
Below is a page from his final body of work known today as Pisani Dossi MS but their names are all Flos Duellatorum “The Flower of Battle”.
Pisani-Dossi MS 25b
The top left panel is translated as: Here the sword will shift into a Malignant Position by penetrating; Now I cover with my arm, for I hold my limb strongly upright.
The top right panel: I am the Position consecrated as the True Cross by many masters.
The point is not a nuisance to me, nor will the cutting edge harm.
Bottom left: By using this covering, you would now be sure to repel whomsoever, Just as you will see the students play at any time.
Bottom right: I would do other plays if ever it will be pleasing; This point escapes from the deepest covering of the master.
Very poetic, I suppose, but is it easy to understand?
We can connect the dots by looking at other references written by Fiore (the author).
MS M.383, MS Ludwig XV 13, and Pisani Dossi MS
Top left: The Archer’s Stance, by this name I am called. Great thrusts I give while stepping out of the way. And if you come against me with a blow of the edge, I make a good cover and quickly I strike my counter. This is my art and it does not change.
Top right: Of the True Cross I am the Bastard Stance (Posta di Crose Bastarda); that which she can do, I also choose to do. For my strategy, I make good covers, thrusts, and cuts, always while voiding blows out of the way, and with my blows, I make my greatest bargain
Bottom left: I come with this cover from the Stance of the True Cross, stepping out of the way to the side. And you will see what I can do from this cover; through my Scholars, I can show it, because they make my complimentary plays (those that are for combat to the death). The art they will show without a doubt.
Bottom right: I am the first Scholar of the Master that came before me, and I make this thrust because it is from his cover. Also, I say that this thrust could quickly be made from the Stance of the True Cross and from the Stance of the Bastard Cross, and I say that immediately as the player throws a thrust to the Master (or Scholar) who was in the aforesaid guards (or stances), the Master (or Scholar) should move lower with his body and step out of the way, crossing the way and thrusting upwards to his face or chest (the cross of the sword held low) as is depicted here.
Still very flowery, but a lot more descriptive. Do you think that you could describe how these guards looked and how they would be used in combat with any accuracy?
Secondary sources:
I think it’s hard for us, as modern people, to understand what Fiore meant and how these blows could be interpreted.
Let’s see how professional instructors try to describe the various guards of Fiore:
Do you feel that Guy Windsor has nailed it? Do you think it would work?
How do you feel about Matt Easten’s interpretation shapes up?
Do you notice any difference between the two instructions? If so, what? Leave a comment!
Is Nicola Gasperet’s demonstration better or worse than the above?
Akademia Szermierzy changes from being instructional pace to full pace. How do you feel their techniques are holding up?
Practice makes perfect
Your task: Find a question that relates to your passion project or some ideas I’ll include below, and find some primary sources, and then some secondary sources that provide more analysis about them.
Find at least one primary source about that question and at least two secondary sources that talk about that primary source.
Some ideas:
- What is it about Wet Markets that make them a cause for concern for medical experts?
- Who had more British Convicts send to them, Australia or North America?
- How did the first people feel about the British showing up?
- Something from your passion project.
Year 9 students must achieve developing and year 10 students must achieve approaching mastery to be complete.
How will you know when you are done:
Developing: A learner who is still developing an understanding of primary and secondary sources will be able to show evidence that they recall that primary sources are original sources. Things that are directly written about by a person or artefacts discovered from the time period. Furthermore, they will be able to show that secondary sources are analysis or combinational work created by others about primary sources (often many).
However, the depth of evidence provide could be tangental or barely relevant to the inquiry question.
Approaching:
Students that are approaching mastery of a topic show that they can apply concepts of sourcing primary and secondary sources. Students will demonstrate this by providing evidence showing how they made decisions on how to choose why an article was primary or secondary and go beyond simple recalling of information. An example of student evidence would be work that clearly contains primary and secondary sources that provide context to the selected inquiry question.
Acquiring:
Students who are acquiring mastery must be able to show detailed evidence of how their primary and secondary sources are appropriate selections. An example of student evidence would go beyond work that clearly contains primary and secondary sources but would come with evidence that argues why the sources are good sources.
Mastering:
Mastering primary and secondary sources would require the student to produce primary and secondary sources and create their own forms of secondary sources from primary evidence that they have sourced themselves.
Muliyan 