About two dozen students from Scarborough Middle School will embark this fall on a project that will help them “be like a historian,” according to a local project team leader.

Scarborough is one of eight school systems to receive a competitive $7,500 grant from the Maine State Historical Society as part of the Maine Community Heritage Project.

Students will be charged with developing a Web site that focuses on Scarborough history. They will do research, handle historical artifacts, digitize historical documents and create online exhibits, said Jessica Kelly, teacher of the gifted and talent program for Scarborough Middle School who is also a team leader for the project.

“This will really help them be more like a historian than just learning about history from a book,” Kelly said. “This will teach them cognitive thinking and give them research skills that aren’t easily learned by sitting in a class room.”

The Maine Community Heritage Project was developed to promote collaboration between local schools, historical societies and public libraries through the exploration and celebration of local history.

Scarborough will be joined in the project by Bangor, Biddeford, Blue Hill, Cumberland/North Yarmouth, Guilford, Hallowell and Lincoln. The students’ Web sites will be part of the Maine Memory Network, the Maine Historical Society’s digital museum.

Scarborough will break its project into five themes, said Mary Pickard, a member of the Scarborough Historical Society. They are: colonial beginnings; war and peace; native populations; Maine’s first governor, William King, who was born in Scarborough; and resettlement.

The students will work with the Scarborough Historical Society and Celeste Shinay from the Scarborough Public Library. Historical Society members Florence Maguire and Bruce Thurlow will show students how to properly handle and scan historical documents. The library will provide research materials and reading lists, while Kelly will develop lesson plans.

Members from the library, historical society and middle school spent about nine months developing the grant application, Pickard said.

“It was a long process,” Pickard said. “We’re excited, but we know it is going to be a busy year.”