Activity overview

Students will explore primary and secondary sources that consider the significance of the 100 days campaign.

Students will use the guidelines in the Data Organizer on p.72 of The Big Six to interrogate the sources. The book Teaching about Historical Thinking by the Critical Thinking Consortium also offers some excellent data organizers for working with primary and secondary sources.

Teachers may adapt these questions to suit the needs and level of students.
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Students will then use what they have learned to make a judgement about the significance of the Hundred Days campaign. In small groups, students should choose a “Top 5” events of the Great War, and determine whether they would include the Hundred Days campaign on this list. Students will present and defend their arguments to the other groups.

Primary HTC concept(s) explored in this activity

Evidence guidepost 1
History is interpretation based on inferences made from primary sources. Primary sources can be accounts, but they can also be traces, relics, or records.

Evidence guidepost 2
Asking good questions about a source can turn it into evidence.
 

Secondary HTC concept(s) explored in this activity
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Significance guidepost 1
Events, people, or developments have historical significance if they resulted in change.
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Significance guidepost 2 
​Events, people, or developments have historical significance if they are revealing.

In this activity, students should be able to demonstrate an emerging ability to make inferences based on their readings, as well as an emerging ability to pose good questions to help guide further inquiry. Please see The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts (2012) by Peter Seixas and Tom Morton, as well as the Historical Thinking Project website for further ideas for student assessment or to adapt these activities.

Questions posed to students in this activity

​Research question: Why do historians believe the Hundred Days campaign was significant?

​Inquiry question(s): Where would you rank the Hundred Days campaign in the significance of Great War events?