Trinity Middle School teacher, Mrs. Agner, designed a fully immersive crime scene investigation experience for students centered around the novel The President Has Been Shot by James L. Swanson. Students analyzed eyewitness testimony drawn from government files, viewed black-and-white recorded testimonies, and examined autopsy and ballistic reports. They also investigated physical evidence, including a blood-stained shirt, a 1960s video camera, and an authentic newspaper published two days after the assassination.
Throughout the experience, students evaluated conflicting evidence and applied critical thinking, inference, corroboration, and sourcing skills to construct their own evidence-based conclusions about what they believe truly happened in the controversial assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The activity challenged students to think like historians and investigators, weighing multiple perspectives before forming and defending their claims.
