Australian History - WW2 The Burma or Death Railway Source Usefulness worksheet

Help your middle and high school students strengthen their historical thinking and source analysis skills with this no-prep, print and digital source usefulness worksheet activity focused on the construction of the Burma–Thailand Railway during World War II.

This powerful resource explores the harsh experiences of Australian prisoners of war through two compelling photographic sources. Students are guided step-by-step to evaluate each source’s usefulness for a historical inquiry, building critical skills in assessing content and provenance.

Product Purpose and Benefits

✔️ Deepens student understanding of WWII in the Pacific, especially POW experiences

✔️ Builds critical thinking through structured source analysis

✔️ Engages students with real historical photographs and guided evaluation tasks

✔️ Includes a complete digital version for flexible delivery

✔️ Designed to scaffold students toward independent source analysis skills

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.