MuseumTeaching Center · Teacher answer keys
Answer keys & look-fors
A teacher companion to the classroom handouts. Many worksheets are open graphic organizers, so these are guides and look-fors, not the only right answers; reward students who reason from the evidence. Each worksheet is paired with the primary-source set that gives students the actual documents to work on.
How Do We Know?
Pairs with the 20 Kenyon Street set (the confidence case) and Freedom, Delivered Late (real founding documents).
The Confidence Ladder (6-12)
Worked example is correct: "Gerry Studds was the first openly gay member of Congress" is Verified (U.S. House records and his own 1983 floor statement). Look for: a claim, the right rung, named source(s), and a plausible piece of evidence that would move it up a rung.
Documents: Sent to Washington, Doc C.
Source Check
Model answers for the 1983 Congressional Record example: Who = the U.S. House (official record); When = the same day; Why/bias = an official duty to record, little motive to distort; Independent agreement = yes, 1983 newspaper reporting. Look for students applying all four questions to their own source.
Documents: any set; strongest with Sent to Washington.
Confidence Audit (performance task)
Strong responses name a real claim, cite the evidence and its source, assign an accurate tag, and say what would raise the confidence (usually a primary source or a second independent source). The cleanest local example: "20 Kenyon Street opened in 1982" = Verified; "it opened on a specific day" = Unknown.
Documents: 20 Kenyon Street, Doc E.
K-2 Fact Detective Sort · Thumbs Card
Sort look-fors: "I saw it" = first-hand; "Someone told me" = heard or read; "I'm guessing" = not checked (e.g., "dinosaurs were green"). Thumbs: up = sure, side = kind of, down = not sure. The win is a child who checks and then updates their thumb.
3-5 Confidence Ladder · Source Sort
Ladder: Sure / Pretty sure / Heard it / Don't know yet, each justified. Source Sort: "from the time" (primary) vs "told later" (secondary), then a confidence level based on whether the two sources agree independently.
Documents: 20 Kenyon Street.
Sent to Washington
Pairs with the Sent to Washington set.
How a Bill Becomes a Law
The 1976 fishing-limit example is correct: a problem (overfishing) leads to a bill (Studds a lead author), committee, House and Senate passage, signing (the 200-mile limit, 1976), and an effect (protected grounds for decades). Look for a student-chosen law traced through the same steps.
Documents: Sent to Washington, Doc B.
The Rights Cycle
Community elects representatives, who change the law, which courts test and extend, returning the new right to the community. The worked example (LGBTQ+ voters to Studds and Frank to DOMA's federal section struck down in 2013) is accurate. Look for a second, well-reasoned cycle.
Documents: Sent to Washington, Docs A, C, D.
Civics Vocabulary
Accept clear student definitions used correctly in a sentence about the unit. Constituency = the people a representative serves; redistricting = redrawing district lines; federalism = power split between national and state government; judicial review = courts judging whether laws are constitutional.
K-2 Our Class Vote · Who Helps?
Vote: tally accurately, name the winning choice, note how winning or losing a fair vote feels. Who Helps: a representative carries a group's voice (class rep to the teacher; mayor to the town). The idea: some people are chosen to speak for many.
3-5 How a Rule Becomes Law · Represent Us
Steps: idea, proposed, debated, voted, made official. Represent Us: a clear change, a fair reason, the right decision-maker, and a strong argument. Look for the leap from "I want" to "here is why it is fair and who decides."
Reading Between the Lines
Pairs with the Reading Between the Lines set.
Stated vs. Implied
Ma Rainey example (corrected to the verified line): surface = she went out with a crowd of women; implied = she desires women and presents in a masculine way, sung just inside what 1928 allowed. The "why code" answer: open expression was dangerous or censored.
Documents: Reading Between the Lines, Doc B.
Symbol Key (Hartley)
Answer: K.v.F. = Karl von Freyburg (the man Hartley loved); the number 4 = von Freyburg's regiment (and Hartley's house number in Berlin); 24 = his age at death; the Iron Cross = the medal awarded just before he died. Whole message: a coded memorial to a lost love.
Documents: Reading Between the Lines, Doc C.
K-2 Symbols: Match & Make · 3-5 Stated vs Implied
K-2 matches: heart = love, stop sign = stop, recycle arrows = reuse; then a drawn symbol for friendship. 3-5: surface vs meaning (idioms like "raining cats and dogs"), plus a reason someone might not say a thing straight out (privacy, safety, play).
Remembering
Pairs with the Remembering: the AIDS crisis set.
Memorial Design (6-12)
No single answer. Look for: a memorial for a community or an idea (never a private person without consent), where every choice, symbol, material, scale, message, is justified in the artist's statement. The model is the Quilt: one hand-made panel holds an individual a statistic cannot.
Documents: Remembering, Doc C.
K-2 My Memory Square · 3-5 Memorial Design
K-2: a decorated square about something happy and special, with a sentence naming it; assembled into a class quilt. 3-5: what it remembers, a shape or symbol, where it goes, the message, and why those choices honor it.
Hidden in Plain Sight
Pairs with the 20 Kenyon Street and Puzzles, 2006 sets.
Site Dossier · Coverage Map
Site Dossier: look for at least two independent sources (deed/assessor, city directory, newspaper, the building itself) before any conclusion, and an honest note on what is still unknown. Coverage Map: marks topics Strong / Thin / Missing and a reason a record might be thin (never kept, owners passed), then a gap the class could help fill.
Documents: 20 Kenyon Street (a place read through sources).
Oral History, Consent & Ethics
This one has a right answer about process: all consent boxes checked before any interview (explain the use, get consent in writing if possible, offer review/redaction/withdrawal, never out anyone, listen more than talk). The narrator's wishes always come first. Five open (not yes/no) questions.
Method: Our Method (consent and care).
K-2 Then & Now · Ask an Elder · 3-5 Site Clues · Interview with Permission
Then & Now / Ask an Elder: gentle change-over-time and a kind, permission-first home interview (with a thank-you). Site Clues: a noticed clue (an old painted sign) and what it might tell us. Interview with Permission: permission first, listen, thank, share only with consent; three kind questions.