Engaging Students in World History with a Bog Body Mystery

Getting students involved in the process of inquiry takes much more than pointing out a problem, offering sources, and setting them on their way. Fortunately, there are a number of teaching strategies that can be instrumental in engaging students in the process of inquiry. As a teacher of world history in the seventh grade, House of Avalon, at Hudson Middle School, two strategies that the author has found particularly engaging for his students are "Discrepant Event Inquiry" and "Mystery." Using these strategies, students inquire into one of the most enduring mysteries in archaeology: the Bog Bodies of Northern Europe. In this paper, the author demonstrates engaging students in world history using a Bog Body mystery. (Contains 6 notes.)