One of the most important things we do as humans is tell stories about the past. We do this because we realize that what people believe about the past has a huge influence on how they will act today. When it comes time to tell our children about the past, we often find different people and groups competing for our attention. There are books stacked all over my study and many have very different accounts of key events. Which stories should be told? This dilemma can best be faced by seeing the past not as stories but as mysteries. In a mystery it is common to hear different accounts. Some will say that different accounts make it seem that the truth about the past cannot be known. Mysteries, however, are meant to be solved. Why not challenge our children to face the mysteries of the past and take the cases. In addition to the adventure of discovering the past, they will develop the investigative skills of a detective.
The purpose of this website is to share my attempts to teach my students the mysteries of the past and provide them with the skills to solve the cases. Here you will find United States and World history curriculum divided into cases. With these cases are some of the online activities used to develop investigative skills and involve students in unraveling the mysteries surrounding events and decisions that have shaped our modern world.