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History

How Do Historians Work?

Overview

Children act as historians investigating a simple mystery from the past, following the steps historians use.

Learning Objective
Children understand how historians investigate the past by asking questions, finding evidence, and reaching conclusions.

Resources needed

  • A simple mystery: a bag of objects with no explanation — e.g. a coin, a key, a piece of cloth, a small tool

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Present the mystery: 'These objects were found buried in the ground. Who do they belong to? When did they live?'
  2. 2 Step 1 — Ask questions: what do we want to know about these objects?
  3. 3 Step 2 — Examine evidence: what do the objects tell us? What are they made of?
  4. 4 Step 3 — Make inferences: what can we deduce about the person who owned them?
  5. 5 Step 4 — Reach a conclusion: who do you think left these objects? When?
  6. 6 Step 5 — Check your conclusion: what evidence supports it? What weakens it?
  7. 7 Discuss: this is how historians work — question, evidence, inference, conclusion.

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Each group receives different objects and compares their conclusions.
  • Add a written clue partway through — how does it change the conclusion?
  • Children create their own mystery bag for another group to investigate.
More information

Teach: question, evidence, infer, conclude, investigate, mystery, deduce. The five-step framework gives children a repeatable process to apply to any historical investigation.

Provide the questions in step 1 rather than asking children to generate them. Scaffold the inference step with sentence starters.

Can children explain what evidence led to their conclusion? Do they acknowledge that their conclusion might be wrong?

Use everyday classroom objects instead of historically significant ones. The investigative process is the skill being developed, not knowledge of specific objects.

Children think history is about finding the one right answer. The mystery format demonstrates that historical conclusions are always provisional — new evidence can change them.

Modelling the historian's method explicitly demystifies history as a discipline and gives children a transferable investigative framework.

Activity details
Primary Medium 20 minutes 5 minutes prep Small Group, Whole Class Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Historical Method Enquiry Investigation