eMysteries Toolkit

The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. [Project Number: 2019-1-DE03-KA201-060127] 27 following: in the riddle that asks “Where do snowmen go to dance?” the teacher would prompt students to think, “What is another word for ‘dance’?”; in this regard, students would hopefully see that the answer to the riddle is “snowball.” 2.1. Pedagogical Methods & Practices to Introduce Close Reading Activities through the Use of Detective Stories Mystery detective stories can be used to support students to activate their thinking skills at different levels. Ibao (2003) provides examples from Bloom’s taxonomy on how such stories can be used to promote a number of different skills. Table 1: Alignment of Blooms' Learning Objectives to the teaching of Detective Mystery Stories Category Detective Mystery Stories KNOWLEDGE Students arrange characters and events in the mystery story COMPREHENSION Students classify events, describe characters, and explain precisely what has occurred. APPLICATION Students apply existing knowledge to the mystery by illustrating, dramatizing, and writing their interpretations. ANALYSIS Students analyse, categorize, and differentiate characters and events. SYNTHESIS Students collect and organize facts to form hypotheses. EVALUATION Students appraise, argue, assess, and evaluate their opinions in the process of solving the mystery. Once students are exposed to the mystery genre, they will want to write their own for others to enjoy and solve. Applying Blooms’ taxonomy to the teaching of mystery/detective stories can be challenging. It requires teachers to be able to transform their teaching practices and apply different methods and strategies to ensure the active participation and engagement of all students. In this chapter we offer several