In my project, I will have my students act as historians identifying credible

sources and information in historical media.

For my problem based learning project, I will be collaborating with my school’s

music department and english department to create a performance of a few Hamilton

songs that will be fact checked by the social studies department. The students in my

class will be broken up into groups, each given 2 songs that they must analyze for fact

and fiction, and then come up with the whole story if fiction is found. Their final check for

mastery will be to present their teachings at a concert where the music department

performs each song, followed by a short history lesson by my students to give the

audience (the community) all the information they gathered. The english department will

be working alongside with an emphasis on learning about credible resources.

This project will encourage collaboration in my school, not only between

academic departments, but between groups of students who might not have a whole lot

of interactions. It will also build good critical thinking and analysis skills when examining

the lyrics of each song. After they examine the lyrics, they will be improving upon their

research skills when they move into the next phase of learning what ​actually ​happened

in history. However, the biggest need is to teach students the importance of finding

credible sources and reliable information, especially in their world where all information,

correct or not, is accessible at the tap of a button.

Each year this project is done, around 3o social studies and english department

students will be involved, and an additional 40-50 music department students with the

addition of the performance. The teachers will be able to peer reflect and evaluate each
other, some teachers potentially never having interacted before. The community will be

able to come in and see firsthand the strong bonds my school is creating, which we can

only hope will create a greater sense of community throughout.

Student Driving Question

“How do I, as a historian, create factual accounts of history?”