Identification of the Historical

Importance of the Text

 “Let us study things that are no more. It is
necessary to understand them, if only to avoid
them.”
– Victor Hugo
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 Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, the student is expected to:

1. Analyze the context, content, and 3. Develop critical and analytical

perspective of the different kinds skills with exposure to primary
of primary sources; sources.
2. Determine the contribution of
different kinds of primary sources
in understanding Philippine
history; and

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 Historical
Significance
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 What is historical significance?

✣ Historical significance is the process used tp

evaluate what was significant about selected
events, people, and developments in the past.
✣ Historians use different sets of criteria to help
them make judgments about significance.

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 What is historical significance?

Significance has been called the forgotten concept

in history, no doubt because it can be challenging
for both teacher and students.
(Northern Ireland Council for Intergrated Education, n.d.)

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 “Teachers often tell students what is important
instead of asking them to consider what is
significant. The key to understanding significance
is to understand the distinction between teaching
significant history and asking students to make
judgements about the significance.”
– Bradshaw, 2004

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 What is historical significance?

So how do we make choices

about what is worth
remembering?

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

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Criteria on Assessing the Historical
Significance of Sources
There are a number of criteria that historians’ use that can be applied to
establish the significance of events. These criteria are interrelated with each
other.

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 Criteria on Assessing the Historical Significance
of Sources

Is it important/relevant to people living at the time?

Relevance
Is something still relevant to our present lives even if it had only a passing importance?

Who were/have been affected by the event? Why was it important to them?

Resonance How were people’s lives affected? Do people like to make analogies with it?

It is possible to connect with experiences, beliefs or attitudes across time and place?

Remarkable Was the event remarked on by people at the time or since?

Was the event/development important at some stage within the collective memory of a group
Remembered
or groups?

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 Criteria on Assessing the Historical Significance
of Sources

Revealing Does it reveal some other aspects of the past?

Resulting Change Does it have consequences for the future?

Durability For how long have people’s lives been affected? A day, a week, a year, or all their lives?

How many people were affected? Did the event affect many, everyone, or just a few? A whole
Quantity
barrio, a town, a province, a country, or the entire race?

Was the event superficial or deeply affecting? How deeply people’s lives were affected? How
Profundity
ere people’s lives affected?

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 Issues on Assesing the Historical
Significance

Our views about historical History is written by the Historical significance is

significance are often victor. Historical relative and varies from
shaped by contemporary significance is how we location to location,
contexts and can be define past events that the generation or sometimes to
dependent upon our own current writer of history ideological orientation or
values, interests and deems important/relevant. political affiliation of the
knowledge. one doing the evaluation or
assessment.

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 Thanks!
Any questions?
You can message me via FSUU Learn messaging feature.

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