Secondhand Investigator’s Field Manual · A DET & CW Casebook

Almost everything we know, we know secondhand. Twelve cases on sources, memory, maps, ads, translations and forecasts, and how to tell trust that’s been checked from trust that’s only been repeated. Ages 10–12, grades 4-6.

Have you ever been to the bottom of the ocean? Stood on the Moon? Measured Mount Everest? Neither has DET, but he believes all of it. So how does anybody know what they’ve never seen?

Secondhand gives kids four questions that work almost anywhere: Who measured it? How? Did anybody measure it differently? Did they have anything to gain? It’s media literacy and research skills, taught through stories and hands-on investigations, without teaching kids to distrust everyone.

What’s inside (12 cases):

•     Firsthand vs. secondhand: sort what you know

•     A telephone-game experiment, and how messages change

•     How mountains get measured, and remeasured

•     Reading ads: who made it, and what do they want?

•     How memory works, with a real eyewitness test

•     Primary and secondary sources, and what a famous photo leaves out

•     Mapping your own yard; translation and sayings; checking websites; tracking the weather forecast

•     The Trust Chart: rating what you believe by how well it’s been checked

Every case has three parts:

•     The Case: a short DET & CW story to read aloud, with vocabulary and discussion questions.

•     Field Work: a real hands-on project in science, math, history, geography or language.

•     Your Own File: private pages that turn the case around, so your investigator looks at their own life the same careful way. They decide who reads them.

Good to know:

•     45-page printable PDF, US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), black-and-white line art that prints cleanly at home

•     Stand-alone: no novel or other book needed

•     Ages 10–12 (grades 4–6), great for homeschool, classroom or summer learning

•     Includes a case-file cover sheet, a word search, and a grown-up guide, “Things to Listen For,” with answers to the math and facts

•     Available in a Canadian edition (metric, Canadian examples) and a U.S. edition (US units and spelling, American examples). Please choose the one you need.

•     Print for your own household or one classroom

Part of the Investigator’s Field Manual series from Perspective Detective Studios.

Observe. Investigate. Discover.