The purpose of social studies instruction, in particular, is to promote civic competence (National

Council for the Social Studies, 1992). Social studies educators typically frame civic competence as requiring

the development of three essential components: command of subject-matter knowledge drawn from

academic disciplines including history and the social sciences, demonstration of skills in using evidence

and judgment to develop well-reasoned opinions, and the development of democratic dispositions,

including a tolerance for diverse opinions and a commitment to the common good (Branson, 1998). In this

manner, history plays a vital role in promoting civic competence, the main purpose of social studies

instruction.

History is a branch of knowledge that attempts to ascertain, record, and explain facts and events

that happened in the past. By those events in the past, historians make a narrative or an account in which

it will subject to interpretations, level at which we study history and the relation between claim and fact.

In accessing the past, it can through memory, through history and relics. In other words from the past to

the narratives down to the inquiry based on the sources given. The main objective of classifying sources

is to determine their independence and reliability. Though the terms primary and secondary sources

originated in historiography as a way to trace the history of historical ideas, they have been applied to

many other fields. The distinction between primary and secondary sources is a critical one, there is always

some excitement about being in contact with a genuine primary source, but one will not learn very much

from a single source. But if you are planning to make an original contribution to historical knowledge, you

are unlikely to make much of a stir if you stick strictly to other people's work, that is, the secondary sources

- to which, it should be stressed the research historian will frequently return throughout all stages of

research and writing. The difference is critical in that strategy which all historians, in one way or another,

devise in embarking on a new research project. It is through the secondary sources that one becomes

beware of the gaps in knowledge, problems unsolved, suspect explanations. It is with the aid of the

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secondary sources, and all the other resources of the profession, that one begins to identify the archives

in which one will commence one's researches. Primary sources, numbingly copious in some areas, are

scarce and fragmentary in others. Much has to be garnered indirectly and by inference. Historians do not

rely on single sources, but are always seeking corroboration, qualification, correction; the production of

history is very much a matter of accumulating details, refining nuances. The technical skills of the historian

lie in sorting these matters out, in understanding how and why a particular source came into existence,

how relevant it is to the topic under investigation, and, obviously, the particular codes or language in

accordance with which the particular source came into being as a concrete artefact. Philosophers, and

others ignorant of history, get confused because they think "primary" means "more truthful", and

"secondary" means "less truthful". A good secondary source will be as reliable as the historian can

possibly make it. We need to understand not just the distinction between primary and secondary sources,

but also that there are different types and levels of secondary source. These range from the most highly

specialized research-based work, through high-quality textbooks which incorporate some personal

research as well as summarize the work of others, to the simple textbooks, and then on to the many types

of popular and non-academic history.

There are different historical methods that are used by historians in developing judgement and

well-reasoned opinions. Oral history is a method of conducting historical research through recorded

interviews between a narrator with personal experience of historical significant events and a well-

informed interviewer, with the goal of adding to the historical record. External criticism on the other

hand, is a method wherein the historian checks the validity and originality of the evidence used for

reconstruction of a historical event or figure. Internal criticism is a method where the historian checks the

validity of the content of a historical document or artifact by comparing it with the existing historical

evidence related to the same event or figure. Some ancient texts, though legitimately written during that

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period, remain questionable due to the conflicting details of the historical event that they are narrative.

Still, historians depends other disciplines in determining the authenticity of an event.

As a social studies teacher, there is the common-sense understanding of history, example it is a

study of the past events, cultures, and people chronologically. More than half of the teachers looked at

the outcome of the process of historical knowledge construction without taking its process into

consideration or mentioning the forces that shape historical writing. For instance, they did not recognize

the role of subjectivity in historical explanations such as the historians frame of reference, gender, race,

ethnicity, nationality, academic training, etc. As a result, instead of seeing the whole relationship or the

interplay among the past, the recorded past, and the historian, they saw a part of the relationship among

different aspects of history. For this reason, most participants conceptions of history were fragmented,

partial, and incomplete. A realist view of the world and a naive epistemological view of history seemed to

characterize the conceptions of most participants who viewed history as objective knowledge. Most

participants also did not see the relevancy of intellectual and conceptual foundations of history to their

profession and professional development. On the other hand, teachers had sophisticated pedagogical

orientations toward teaching history. Teachers repertoires of instructional strategies and assessment

techniques were rich. Their goals were influenced and shaped greatly by the concept of citizenship. The

citizenship goals ranged from the goal of passing cultural heritage on to students to the goal of

encouraging students to critically examine that cultural heritage. Teachers conceptions of teaching drew

on the elements of different theoretical models of teaching and learning.

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History as branch of knowledge accounts for