Detective Skills

I asked my 8th grade U.S. history students to act as “detectives” and examine primary sources from the Boston Massacre to answer the central question: “Who started the Boston Massacre?” I gave my students diverse sources from different points-of-view because I wanted to challenge them to use their “detective” historical thinking skills. But I noticed that they kept seeking the “correct” answer in class, even though history does not always have a “correct” answer. That dichotomous way of thinking–right versus wrong–is not useful for historical inquiry. I wanted my students to feel comfortable with the unknown and use historical analytical skills to come to an answer. Instead, while comparing two documents, they looked to me for the answer. One student said, “I think the difference is that this text was written a few years later. Is that what you want us to notice?” I responded by saying, “I am not looking for one answer. I want to hear your interpretations.” Just then, I noticed a bunch of students look up at me and they stopped trying to “find” the answer in the text.