Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students Using the premise of a
mystery to solve, elementary students act as history detectives
as they explore a historical question and analyze carefully
chosen clues to formulate and test hypotheses. This strategy
depends on our need to solve mysteries. Students are given an
opportunity to be active learners as they solve a historical
mystery. This strategy relates to what historians do and the
process of historical inquiry. Students must work with evidence,
form hypotheses, test those hypotheses, and report their
findings. The goals of the mystery strategy are to learn to: 1.
gather, organize, and process information; 2. formulate and test
hypotheses; 3. think creatively and analytically to solve
problems; and 4. develop, defend, and present solutions to
problems. 1. Choose an topic that contains a mystery such as
“Why did the American beaver almost become extinct in the
1840s?” Other examples of appropriate historical mysteries
include: “How did flooding in Mississippi in