Curriculum Connections for the Yukon

A Teachers’ Guide is available for each of the twelve Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History, and includes background materials, activity sheets and detailed lesson plans for one or more grade-specific units for elementary or secondary students. Some suggestions are relevant for college and university classes. Just fill in our online registration form and download the guides in PDF format.

There are short, focused, age-specific, single-lesson MysteryQuests lesson plans relating to one or more of the Mysteries.

You can also download classroom posters.

1. Where is Vinland?

“Where is Vinland?” can be used effectively in the following courses.

• Social Studies 7 – Ancient World Cultures to 500 AD
• Social Studies 8 – World Civilizations 500-1600

• MysteryQuest 28 – Plotting the Course A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 11–14
• MysteryQuest 29 – Is Cape Cod the Real Vinland? A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14–16
• MysteryQuest 30 – Norse Profiling A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 11–14

2. Torture & the Truth: Angélique & the Burning of Montreal

A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking in the intermediate and junior secondary level Canadian history curriculum.

“Torture and the Truth: Angélique and the Burning of Montréal” can be used effectively in the following courses. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are ones where the teacher may need to do a little improvising to ensure that the lessons – designed specifically here for intermediate and junior secondary students – are at the appropriate level.

• Social Studies 5 – Canada From Colony to Country*
• Social Studies 9 – Society and Culture: Europe and North America from 1500 to 1815
• Law 12
• Social Justice 12

• MysteryQuest 2 – Did Angelique Start the Fire? Evaluating the Evidence
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 11–14
• MysteryQuest 6 – Slavery in New France
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 11–14
• MysteryQuest 13 – The Status of Women in New France
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-18
• MysteryQuest 16 – Opposition to Slavery in New France
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-18
• MysteryQuest 18 – Working Women in New France
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 11–14

3. Jerome: The Mystery Man of Baie Sainte-Marie

A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking in the senior secondary level Canadian history curriculum.

Jérôme could be used effectively in the following courses:

• Social Studies 10 – Canada 1815-1914
• Social Studies 11 – Society and Identity

Teaching Unit for Law, Senior Secondary Courses

A unit to further the development of critical thinking in the senior secondary law and history curricula using the website “Jerome: The Mystery Man of Baie Sainte-Marie.” This could be used in the following course:

• Social Justice 12

• MysteryQuest 25 – Explaining the Mystery
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14–16
• MysteryQuest 26 – Worthy of Attention?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14–16
• MysteryQuest 27 – Was Jerome Mistreated?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 16–18

4. Who Killed William Robinson? Race, Justice & Settling the Land

Unit 1:William Robinson and the Law Teaching Unit for Law, Senior Secondary Courses

A unit to further the development of critical thinking in the senior secondary law and history curricula using the website “Who Killed William Robinson? This could be used in the following courses:

• Law 12
• Native Studies
• Social Justice 12

Unit 2: Murder in Our Own Backyard: Who Killed William Robinson? A Three-week integrated Language Arts unit for Intermediate Students

If students have enjoyed the experience it can easily be reproduced using geography, mathematics, history, science, and other areas of fine arts and language arts as appropriate with prescribed learning outcomes.

Individual Lesson Plans: Who Killed William Robinson? Teaching Unit for Intermediate and Junior Secondary History and Social Studies Courses

“Who Killed William Robinson?” could be used effectively in the following course:

• Social Studies 10 – Canada 1815-1914

• MysteryQuest 3 – The Trial of Tshuanahusset: Fair or Foul?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14–16
• MysteryQuest 9 – Underlying Factors in the Operation of Colonial Justice
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-16
• MysteryQuest 14 – Is Tshuanahusset Guilty Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-16

5. We Do Not Know His Name: Klatsassin & the Chilcotin War

Unit 1 is aimed at Intermediate (grades 7 and 8) or junior secondary (grades 8, 9 and 10) students, while Unit 2 is directed towards students in senior secondary classes, or for first or second year undergraduates.

Unit 1: Teaching Unit for Intermediate and Junior Secondary Students

“Contact and Conflict: The Tsilhqot’in People and the Colony of British Columbia” could be used effectively in the following courses. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are ones where the teacher may need to do a little improvising to ensure that the lessons – designed specifically here for intermediate and junior secondary students – are at the appropriate level.

• Social Studies 5 – Canada From Colony to Country*
• Social Studies 10 – Canada 1815-1914

Unit 2: Teaching Unit for Senior Secondary or University Students

This Unit, “Murder, Terrorism or War? The 1864 Conflict between the Tsilhqot’in people and the colony of British Columbia” could be used effectively in the following course:

• B.C. First Nations Studies 12

• MysteryQuest 4 – Media Bias: The Chilcotin War
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-16
• MysteryQuest 7 – War, Massacre, or Terrorism?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 16–18
• MysteryQuest 17 – Protecting the Nation?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14–18

6. Heaven & Hell on Earth: The Massacre of the “Black” Donnellys

A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking in the intermediate and junior secondary level Canadian history curriculum.

“What Killed the ‘Black’ Donnellys?” can be used effectively in the following course.

• Social Studies 10: Canada 1815- 1914

Teaching Unit for Law, Senior Secondary Courses

A unit to further the development of critical thinking in the senior secondary law and history curricula using the website “What Killed the ‘Black’ Donnellys?” This could be used in the following course:

• Law 12

• MysteryQuest 5 – Religious Conflict and the Search for Historical Explanations
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 16–18
• MysteryQuest 10 – Life in the Township
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-16
• MysteryQuest 19 – Life in Rural Ontario During the Late 19th Century: Hardship or Prosperity?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-16

7. Who Discovered Klondike Gold?

A Unit for Intermediate and Junior Secondary Students.

“Who Discovered Klondike Gold?” could be used effectively in the following courses. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are ones where the teacher may need to do a little improvising to ensure that the lessons – designed specifically here for intermediate and junior secondary students – are at the appropriate level.

• Social Studies 5 – Canada From Colony to Country*
• Social Studies 10 – Canada 1815-1914

• MysteryQuest 22 – Who Should Receive the Credit?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 16–18
• MysteryQuest 23 – Should I Join the Rush?
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 11-14
• MysteryQuest 24 – Impact of the Gold Rush
  A critical thinking challenge for students, ages 14-16

8. The Redpath Mansion Mystery

A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking in the intermediate level Canadian history curriculum.

“The Redpath Mansion Mystery” could be used effectively in the following courses:

• Social Studies 6
• Law 12

9. Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy

A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking in the senior secondary level Canadian history curriculum.

This mystery could be used effectively in the following courses:

• Social Studies 10
• Law 12

10. Aurore! The Mystery of the Martyred Child

Provides a Teaching Unit for Intermediate and Secondary Students.

We have identified the following courses as ones in which this Unsolved Mystery about Aurore Gagnon could most easily fit into your provincial curriculum. This is not meant, however, to be an exhaustive list.

• Law 12
• Social Justice 12

11. Explosion on the Kettle Valley Line: The Death of Peter Verigin

“Explosion on the Kettle Valley Line: The Death of Peter Verigin” can be used effectively in the following courses. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are ones where the teacher may need to do a little improvising to ensure that the lessons – designed specifically here for intermediate and junior secondary students – are at the appropriate level.

• Social Studies 11 – Canadian Identity *
• Law 12
• History 12
• Social Justice 12

12. Death of a Diplomat: Herbert Norman & the Cold War

A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking in the intermediate and senior secondary level Canadian history curriculum: “To what degree was Herbert Norman’s death the result of Canada’s own version of a Cold War ‘witch hunt’”?

The Herbert Norman mystery could be used effectively in the following courses:

• Social Studies 11
• Law 12

Links

• British Columbia Social Studies Curriculum
• British Columbia Social Studies Teachers Association
• The History Education Network
• Canada’s National History Society
• The Historica-Dominion Institute