Australian History - WW1 Western Front ANZAC experiences 1916 Source Usefulness

Help your middle and high school students strengthen their historical thinking and source analysis skills with this no-prep source usefulness worksheet activity focused on ANZAC experiences on the Western Front in 1916. With a guided slide deck, editable student tasks, and built-in scaffolding, this resource is ideal for History and Social Studies classrooms.

This printable and digital resource supports explicit instruction in evaluating sources by examining a wartime photograph and a firsthand letter, encouraging students to assess content, provenance, and purpose while exploring the realities of WWI trench warfare.

Product Purpose and Benefits

This resource helps students:

• Learn how to assess the usefulness of primary sources by analyzing content and provenance
• Build confidence using historical thinking skills
• Compare multiple perspectives on the same event using structured critical thinking
• Practice using evidence to support historical inquiry
• Digital and PDF versions

What’s Included in This Resource:

1. Editable Slide Deck – “Understanding Source Usefulness”

The lesson begins with a teacher-guided slide deck that introduces key concepts of source usefulness, including content and provenance, bias, perspective, and purpose, with sample questions, sentence starters, and modelled examples to support discussion and explicit teaching of historical thinking skills.

2. Source Evaluation Worksheet

After the slide deck, students apply their learning to a structured, scaffolded worksheet focused on two real sources.

Students are guided to:

• Evaluate each source’s content (what is being said/shown)
• Analyse the provenance (who, when, where, why)
• Make informed judgments about usefulness for understanding the event
• Use evidence to support their evaluation in a clear, written format

3. Source Usefulness Activity

Worksheet designed to deepen understanding.

This task encourages students to:

• Examine the surface and subtext of both sources
• Explore tone, language, and visual cues
• Build confidence in engaging with unfamiliar source types

Learn more about this product’s features, care instructions, and other useful details to help you make an informed choice.

Learn more about this product’s features, care instructions, and other useful details to help you make an informed choice.