Crack the Case with HSI: Historical Scene Investigation
April 17, 2008
There’s an old saying among history teachers – those who ignore the lessons of history might have paid more attention if it was packaged like a major network crime drama*.
Now your students can become historical detectives and investigate cases like the Boston Massacre and The Case of Sam Smiley with HSI: Historical Scene Investigation, a site from the College of William & Mary School of Education.
Not since Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? have sleuthing and social studies worked together so harmoniously. Students are given primary sources (or “evidence” in the parlance of detective work) they can use to investigate these historical cases. HSI challenges students to become real historians as they examine sources and form theories about what happened in each case.
Apparently the term “historian” isn’t cool enough to excite kids about history, so dubbing them “detectives” is the proverbial sugar to help the medicine of historical inquiry go down. With the one-two punch of HSI and the new Indiana Jones movie this summer, studying the past may become kids’ career of choice. -BILL FERRIS
* not an actual saying
HSI: Historical Scene Investigation
CSI meets Social Studies: The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) via NCS-Tech
