Australian WW2 History - government controls Source Usefulness worksheet

Help your middle and high school students develop key historical thinking and source analysis skills with this no-prep printable and digital source usefulness activity, focusing on Australian government restrictions during WWII. This resource includes an engaging slide deck, editable student tasks, and a scaffolded worksheet that guides learners through analyzing two primary sources tied to wartime government control and daily life in 1940s Australia.

Perfect for History, Civics, or Humanities classrooms, this resource is aligned with skills-based learning goals and promotes critical thinking through structured evaluation of content and provenance.

Product Purpose and Benefits

This lesson helps students:

• Understand how historians evaluate source usefulness
• Differentiate between content and provenance
• Apply critical thinking to analyze government propaganda and personal experiences
• Engage with real historical material from Australia’s WWII home front
• Build writing and analytical skills for historical inquiry
  

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.