IN THIS ARTICLE

What You'll Need
Primary Source
Answering Questions
Multiple Sources
Image Features
Transcripts
Frequently Asked Questions

What You'll Need

A School, Homeschool, or Teacher plan that includes BrainPOP 3-8
Some features require an individual teacher or student account included in a School or Homeschool plan

Primary Source

Primary Source activities accompany over 90 BrainPOP topics, challenging students to examine and interpret photographs, videos, diaries, and other documents.

Primary Source Feature Page (Teacher).png

Teachers with individual accounts can find Primary Source in the More Activities section of the topic page:

Primary Source Topic Page.png

Answering Questions

Primary Source activities offer free-response questions to be answered based on the primary source material given. Responses can be given in written (typed) or audio (spoken) format.

Primary Source Feature.png

Written answers

To answer the question with a typed response, choose anywhere in the lined area beneath the question and begin typing:

Primary Source text response.png

You can expand or contract the lined area beneath the question to view and write a longer response by dragging the corner of the answer area:

Primary Source expand answer area.gif

Spoken answers

You can record an answer by choosing Speak and then choosing Record your answer. You will need to allow access to your device’s microphone in order to record a spoken answer.

Primary Source record audio response.gif

Multiple Sources

Some Primary Source activities ask students to compare and interpret more than one primary source. When a Primary Source activity has multiple sources, each source will have its own tab above the primary source viewer.

Primary Source multiple sources tabs.png

Image Features

Some primary sources contain images. You can change the size of the image by zooming in, zooming out, returning to the original scale, or viewing in full screen, using the tools above the image.

To zoom in or out, choose the magnifying glasses with the + or - symbols.

Primary Source Zoom.png

To toggle full screen mode, choose the expand or contract full screen icons. To exit full screen mode, you can also press the Esc key.

Primary Source Fullscreen.png

While zoomed in on an image, you can click and drag the image to move the view area. You can see which area you’re viewing by looking at the boxed area in the image thumbnail.

Primary Source Zoom and Drag.gif

To return the image to its original scale, choose the home icon.

Primary Source Original Scale.png

Transcripts

Some Primary Source activities contain video or audio sources, or images of printed text. A Primary Source like that will have a Transcript to go along with it below the video, audio source, or image.

To expand a transcript so you can read all of it, choose Read full transcript. To collapse the transcript again, choose Read less transcript.

Primary Source transcript.png

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I print or export a Primary Source image, video, or audio by itself?

Primary Source images will be included in the printed version of the Primary Source activity, but Primary Source video or audio sources cannot be printed or downloaded.

Can I print a Primary Source transcript?

Yes! If a Primary Source includes a transcript, the transcript will be included in the printed version of the activity.

Are Primary Source activities accessible from a mobile device?

Yes! Primary Source activities are accessible using a supported mobile browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. However, they may not be viewable or have ideal usability at smaller screen sizes.

Like other student and teacher individual account features such as assignments, classes, and dashboards, Primary Source activities are not available in our BrainPOP iOS app.