Historical Scene Investigation (HSI): Engaging Students in Case Based Investigations using Web-Based Historical Documents

The Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) project builds upon the work of a number of scholars to facilitate the application and acquisition of historical thinking skills in the K-12 classroom. Through a structured yet flexible approach, HSI exercises attempt to provide scaffolding for the analysis of a variety of historical documents to simultaneously develop an understanding of the content focus of the investigation and the historiography skills embedded in their work. HSI exercises are designed to be “interpreted” and edited by classroom teachers in either a low- or high-tech approach. This article explores the background and structure of the model and discussion of the classroom implementation of two examples.