The Lunchroom Fight Investigation: How To Think Like a Historian

In this one time course, students will be introduced to historical thinking skills of sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Students will practice these skills through the scenario of a lunchroom fight, where they will assume the role of the school principal and analyze the evidence to determine which student is responsible for starting a fight during lunch. Students will practice sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating and close reading the testimonials (sources) before they come to a consensus about who they will suspend. This class can serve as a great foundation for students who plan to take other courses I offer. It will introduce them to deeper levels of thinking and train them to think critically when examining documents and events. All of this is done through a topic which students can relate to. 

Students will first be introduced to the historical thinking skills, then they will be given the scenario and the testimonials which will help them determine what happened. In small groups and as a class, I will guide students to examine and analyze the reliability of each source. Like my other courses, this course also uses an inquiry approach to present and teach historical topics and skills.