[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-597736-105":59,"doc-detail-597736-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-great-unsolved-mysteries-of-canadian-history-using-a-web-based-archives-to-teach-history","The Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History - Using a web based archives to teach history","","A growing trend in history education uses primary documents—original materials historians rely on—to teach history in high school and even elementary classrooms. This article draws on experience designing a web-based history education project, The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History, to examine both promise and challenges. It argues that primary documents make history more engaging by engaging students in critical and imaginative thinking, mirroring how historians “do” history.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-great-unsolved-mysteries-of-canadian-history-using-a-web-based-archives-to-teach-history/597736/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-great-unsolved-mysteries-of-canadian-history-using-a-web-based-archives-to-teach-history/597736.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"SANS","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main educational purpose of using primary documents in history teaching?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"To make history more engaging while drawing students into the critical and imaginative thinking processes required to “do” history.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the article relate its argument to a specific teaching project?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It uses the author’s experience designing the web-based project The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History to explore promise and problems of primary-document teaching.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What approach does the project use to teach students about the past?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It presents contested, evidence-based interpretations through a “mystery”-driven structure supported by hundreds of primary documents and guided lesson plans.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},597736,1792208958,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},962090760505,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","CANADIAN SOCIAL STUDIES  \nVOLUME 39 NUMBER 2, WINTER 2005  \n[www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css](www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css)  \nSpecial Issue: New Approaches to Teaching History  \nThe Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History:  \nUsing a web based archives to teach history.  \nRuth Sandwell  \nOntario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto  \nReturn to Articles  \nAbstract  \nOver the past few years, there has been a growing trend in the use of primary documents, those original historical documents used by historians, to teach  \nhistory in high school and even elementary classrooms. This article uses the  \nauthor's experience of designing a web based history education project, The  \nGreat Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History project ([www.canadianmysteries.ca](www.canadianmysteries.ca)) to explore some of the promise and problems of using primary documents to teach history. The article suggests that this approach not only makes history more interesting to students, but it does so by drawing students into the processes of critical and imaginative thinking needed to 'do' history.  \nOver the past few years, there has been a growing trend in the use of primary documents, those original historical documents used by historians, to teach history in high school and even elementary classrooms. Whether history educators believe that the analysis of primary documents does a better job at teaching the kinds of critical enquiry and historical thinking that are at the heart of history education, or whether they believe that this approach is simply more interesting to students, teachers are using primary documents more often in their classrooms as they encourage students to \"DO \" history (Wineburg, 1999; Seixas 1993; Sandwell, 2003; Osborne, 2004) .  \nSince 1995, John Lutz (a historian at the University of Victoria), and myself (a historian now teaching in a faculty of education at the University of Toronto) have been involved in an online history education project that has tried to both encourage the use of primary documents in the teaching of Canadian history, and to alleviate some of the problems associated with it. Working with Dr. Peter Gossage, now the third co director of our project, we have created a series of documents based websites called collectively The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History ([www.canadianmysteries.ca](www.canadianmysteries.ca)). This article describes some of the reasoning behind our decision to teach Canadian history through this documents based approach. After a discussion of the philosophical and pedagogical background to the sites, I will present an  \noverview of lesson plans that provide some examples from one of the Teachers' Guides to demonstrate just how these theories are translated into practical lessons that are helping to change the way history is taught.  \nThe big idea  \nEverybody loves a mystery. And the work of historians resembles that of detectives in many respects. Like detectives, historians sift through evidence in order to build convincing interpretations about some aspect or aspects of the past Unfortunately, it is this very process of building historical knowledge that is so often missing in \"school history\" (Sandwell, 2003, Seixas, 2003) . Teachers tend to represent history as a series of facts to be memorized and given back to the teacher is a slightly altered form, while historians generally understand history instead as a series of interpretations built up, evaluated and argued for in the context of what other people have already argued. John Lutz and I decided to introduce history students to the more delightful, contested, evidence based and interpretive aspects of history by creating the website \"Who Killed William Robinson? Race, Justice and Settling the Land.\"This website presents students with some brief contextual materials about the \"mystery\" , and the place and times in which it occurred, but most of the site is comprised of hundreds of primary documents","cbCaiuGSPDol1vqw","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuGSPDol1vqw","pdf",276911,"English","# Special Issue: New Approaches to Teaching History\n## The Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History: Using a web based archives to teach history\n## The big idea","[{\"question\":\"What is the main educational purpose of using primary documents in history teaching?\",\"answer\":\"To make history more engaging while drawing students into the critical and imaginative thinking processes required to “do” history.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article relate its argument to a specific teaching project?\",\"answer\":\"It uses the author’s experience designing the web-based project The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History to explore promise and problems of primary-document teaching.\"},{\"question\":\"What approach does the project use to teach students about the past?\",\"answer\":\"It presents contested, evidence-based interpretations through a “mystery”-driven structure supported by hundreds of primary documents and guided lesson plans.\"}]","The Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History - Using a web based archives to teach history | PDF",1792085604]