Cobblestone & Cricket: How to Conduct Historical Investigation

Engage the Students
- Access prior knowledge by reading from a narrative of an event.
- Explain to the students that they will be using several documents to address a mystery or question.
- Use a map, broadside, poem, political cartoon, or journal entry to hook the students' attention.
- Target the inquiry with a focus question.
Conduct the Investigation
- Teachers or students collect relevant and sometimes conflicting primary and secondary sources that provide intrigue.
- Students read and analyze the documents in pairs or small groups and take notes based on the following questions (several different documents can be used):
  1. How do I know this is reliable information? (Determine the authenticity)
  2. When was this document written? Who wrote it? What was its purpose? (Clarify historical context)
  3. Explain the author's point of view. (Analyze perspectives)
  4. How important is this document in helping me answer the focus question? (Determine historical significance)
- Students should individually generate interpretations of the documents based on the focus question.
Discussions
- Students will work together in small groups and share their interpretations of the focus question citing documents as evidence.
- Multiple interpretations can emerge and may or may not be accepted by all.
Report Findings
- Formulate a thesis that answers the focus question and explains what happened. Report in writing citing evidence for the documents:
  - Write to Inform
    Summarize the thesis (position)
    - OR -
    Develop an action plan for presenting the report
  - Write to Persuade
    Make recommendations or arguments

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