The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was created to help social studies teachers incorporate primary sources into their classrooms by providing online historical documents and giving students experiences analyzing sources like historians; while many primary sources are available online, it can be difficult for teachers to find suitable projects due to the large number of search results, so HSI was developed to help teachers launch primary source investigation activities for their students.
The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was created to help social studies teachers incorporate primary sources into their classrooms by providing online historical documents and giving students experiences analyzing sources like historians; while many primary sources are available online, it can be difficult for teachers to find suitable projects due to the large number of search results, so HSI was developed to help teachers launch primary source investigation activities for their students.
The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was created to help social studies teachers incorporate primary sources into their classrooms by providing online historical documents and giving students experiences analyzing sources like historians; while many primary sources are available online, it can be difficult for teachers to find suitable projects due to the large number of search results, so HSI was developed to help teachers launch primary source investigation activities for their students.
The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was created to help social studies teachers incorporate primary sources into their classrooms by providing online historical documents and giving students experiences analyzing sources like historians; while many primary sources are available online, it can be difficult for teachers to find suitable projects due to the large number of search results, so HSI was developed to help teachers launch primary source investigation activities for their students.
The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was
designed for social studies teachers who need a strong pedagogical mechanism for bringing primary sources into their classroom. With the advent and accessibility of the internet, many libraries, universities and government agencies are housing their historical documents online. Simultaneously, there has been a push in K-12 history education to give students experiences that more closely resemble the work of a real historian. The National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) provides standards challenging teachers to design experiences in which students:
to raise questions and to Creators:
marshal solid evidence in support of their answers Kathleen Owings Swan, PhD to go beyond the facts Assistant Professor, Social presented in their Studies Education textbooks and examine the Department of Curriculum and historical record for Instruction themselves College of Education, University to consult documents, of Kentucky journals, diaries, kswan@uky.edu artifacts, historic sites, works of art, quantitative Mark Hofer, PhD data, and other evidence Assistant Professor,Educational from the past, and to do so Technology imaginatively--taking into School of Education account the historical College of William & Mary context in which these mark.hofer@wm.edu records were created and comparing the multiple Contributors: points of view of those on the scene at the time David Locascio, PhD (National Center for Assistant Professor History in the Schools, Longwood University 1996, p. 14. Department of Education, Special Education, & Social Work Most social studies teachers locasciod@longwood.edu accept these challenges but find it difficult to find projects Kathi Kern, PhD and experiences that are Associate Professor accessible for their students. University of Kentucky Researching the "cybraries" of Department of History the internet takes time, a kern@pop.uky.edu precious and scarce resource for the typical social studies David Hicks, PhD teacher. While the Internet Associate Professor provides access to Civil War Virginia Tech University diaries, newspapers from the Teacher Education 1920's, images from the Jim Crow hicks@vt.edu south, and many other primary sources, the sheer number of Julie Bray, MAT possibilities is daunting. Even Middle School Teacher the most sophisticated search Toano Middle School engines provide such a vast Toano, Virginia number of "hits" that a BrayJ@wjcc.k12.va.us classroom teacher would find it difficult to gather the Abrianna Nelson necessary resources to launch a High School Teacher primary source investigation/interpretation activity. The HSI project was developed for these teachers.