History “Clue” Game

Concept

This activity is a fun way to incorporate primary sources into your instruction using a game board that manystudents have played. This activity can be designed to encourage critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving among your students.

Skills

Differentiate fact from opinion

Draw conclusions and make connections

Investigate, interpret, and analyze multiple historical and contemporary sources and viewpoints

Interpret history through artifacts

Time Frame

Two/three class periods for students to work in pairs or groups to complete each room’s activity.

Activity: Step by Step

Teachers should begin with a historical question that requires students to investigate primary sources and come to a conclusion. (backed by historical evidence)

Example: Who bears responsibility for the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire?

Why America was not the land of golden opportunity for immigrants

during the late 1800’s?

Choose primary sources for each of the rooms on the clue game board. Teachers may choose between sound recordings, video/film, first- hand accounts (ex. diaries, letters), documents (ex. Amendments, Congressional Acts), artifacts, charts, graphs, maps, visuals (ex. photographs, posters). All primary sources selected should relate back to the question in some way. A suggestion would be to choose sources that show conflicting viewpoints. Place the primary sources in envelopes. If using sound recordings, have a computer station set up in the room for students to easily access.

Teachers may choose to create graphic organizers or a set of questions that go with each primary source. Students should spend time with each document or picture in order to gather evidence needed to answer the question.

Place students in pairs or groups. Explain that they may choose an envelope from the gameboard. They may start anywhere on the gameboard. They should complete the activity in each envelope before moving to the next room. After all the rooms have been explored, ask student to write an answer to the guiding question. They must back it up citing evidence they collected along the way.

Instruct the students to look carefully at all the evidence, interpret the evidence, and make a hypothesis. Encourage them to be creative! Discussion afterward is important way to debrief. Challenge the groups to come together and see if they can all agree on an answer. Remember historians do not always agree.

Suggestions

Do not use this activity without working with your students beforehand in how to analyze a primary source.

Teachers may use document based questions. At the conclusion of the activity have students write a DBQ essay.

Have students discuss the connections between all of the primary sources and which one led them to their conclusion?

Teachers could turn this into a research activity by having students locate primary sources that help answer the historical question posed.

Teachers may choose to use the textbook for one of the rooms. Examples would be short reading passages, visuals (such as charts, graphs, maps) that support the question.

This activity can be easily adapted for differentiation. Choose your primary sources carefully. You may need to modify the text of the document and/or change the graphic organizer or set of questions asked.

Notes

This activity can easily be adapted for an interactive whiteboard. A suggestion would be to link each primary source to the room on the game board. Students may use laptops and click the link to pull up the primary source.

Assessment

This activity is considered to be formal assessment. It is suggested that students be assessed on using a rubric.

Common Core Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6 – 12:*

Key Idea and Details

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.

Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence.

Craft and Structure

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text.

Describe how a text presents information.

Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose.

Evaluate author’s differing points of view on the same historical event or issue.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Integrate visual information with other information in print and digital texts.

Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.

Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

Range of reading and Level of text Complexity

Read and comprehend complex literacy and informational texts independently and proficiently.

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