First Emperor Qin Evidence Analysis: Hero or Villain?

Emperor Qin, one of the strongest and cruelest leaders in Ancient China, was an extremely controversial emperor. In this activity, students work as investigators analyzing evidence to determine if Emperor Qin was a hero or a villain.

Students analyze 5 pieces of evidence. As they examine each piece of evidence, they must determine what this evidence says about Emperor Qin - was he a hero or a villain?

This activity is much more than a traditional question-answer activity. Students are working as detectives to analyze evidence and draw conclusions from that evidence.

There are multiple options for how you can do this activity:

1) You can assign half the students the role of defending Qin's actions as a hero, and the other half the role of using the evidence to prove why he was a villain. As they read each document, they have to decide if it supports their argument or the other side. If it supports their argument, they pick out the key elements to defend their position. If it better supports the other side, they need to develop a rebuttal to that evidence.

2) You could also assign every student the role of being an impartial investigator. As they read each document, they decide if it proves he is a hero or a villain. They find the direct evidence that supports their position.

Check out Harper's History for more great activities.