Grade 10 Trial of Genghis Khan

Our Grade 10 History teacher, Martha Turner, tapped into her previous experience as a civil litigation attorney in order to create an activity that used modern day court proceedings to bring 13th century history to life for our students. If you happened to be at the Ada County Courthouse last Friday, you might have seen Riverstone’s Grade 10 students in Room 400 as they tried Genghis Khan with war crimes in violation of international criminal law! The first trial was based on Genghis Khan’s invasion of what is now northern China and the second trial was based on the siege on the city of Bukhara.

The judge was Scott Learned, our High School Physics and Math teacher who practiced law for five years before teaching. The jury was made up of volunteers from Grade 11 and 12 as well as parents. The prosecution and defense teams were made up of Grade 10 students.

At the outset, the students were given a set of statutes that were developed from modifying the language in various international treaties, the Geneva Hague Convention policies, etc. The prosecution teams conducted research to determine which provisions of the statutes they thought that they could prove Genghis violated. Indictments were issued that were based on their conclusions.

A substantial aspect of this assignment required that students analyze the sources that they and their opponents were using to compile information. Since source analysis is such an important aspect of historical study, Martha built a practical application for that skill into the curriculum. Students had a pre-trial hearing before “Judge Learned” where they had the opportunity to challenge the credibility of each other’s sources and be forced to defend their own sources.

Martha wrote in an email prior to the trials, “They have developed some very mature and sophisticated arguments about the sources and the citing. Frankly, I am incredibly impressed with these kids.”

For those of us watching from the gallery, we had to agree.