What really happened to Andres Bonifacio?

“My purpose is to engage students in dialogue so they can see others’ points of view – in a world that needs this more than ever. I do this by sharing lessons on this site which connect students with the past and inspire critical thinking.

Please read below to find details about this one.” Dan

This is a fully-resourced History Mystery and is part of my unit on the History of the Philippines. The lesson begins with an Odd One Out Starter Activity which is about people who have died for their countries, and this invites conversation about who Andres Bonifacio was. There is then some background information and links to two short videos which portray very different deaths. The lesson title is introduced and clear aims and graduated objectives (all will/most will/some will) are given. The main activity is then a drip-fed History Mystery activity. Students are issued 12 different information cards one at a time which give key pieces of information about the life and death of Bonifacio. Using these they complete a History Mystery evidence grid which asks them to infer from each piece of evidence. After this is complete suggested inferences are provided on the PPT. The class are asked to refer back to the lesson objectives and the final plenary task is a voting task in which they are asked to stand on one side of the room to show if they believe Bonifacio was killed because he broke the rule of war or whether they think his death was unfair and a political assassination by his rival Aguinaldo. A homework task (newspaper activity) is set also.