Why did the Titanic sink?’ – bridging two disciplines to teach epistemic insight with lower secondary school students

This article describes a workshop to develop students’ understanding of how to investigate a cross-disciplinary question that bridges science and history. The question ‘Why did the Titanic sink?’ is interpreted scientifically and then historically to help students to better appreciate the strengths and limitations of each discipline’s methods, language and norms of thought. Finally, students are encouraged to consider how this question could be further informed by additional disciplinary perspectives to provide a deeper and fuller answer. The results of the intervention, although in the early stages, have been encouraging, working towards the learning outcomes of the Epistemic Insight Curriculum Framework.