Resources for GCSE
This page lists a range of resources for teaching at GCSE, organising them by chronological period or thematic topic. I have not tried to specify how they relate to awarding body specifications or cover the range of options available – the majority therefore relate to the longest-established SHP topics.
Not all the activities in this section were devised for GCSE but please don’t reject an activity because it was originally devised for KS3. In their original form they may well provide an introductory level of knowledge for you to build on – students learn best when information is provided in layers so they gain knowledge and confidence gradually. Alternatively you can adapt activities to increase the demands in terms of knowledge and understanding. If it’s a good activity, based on sound teaching and learning principles, it will work at GCSE and at A level too – you just need to increase the demands you make of students.
Generic Techniques
The power of simple demonstrations – three activities providing an overview of patterns of English or British population across time |
|
A couple of ideas putting analysis of the source before what it says. |
|
How to involve students in creating a human map of ‘who’s who’ in any period – vital for improving their confidence at GCSE and A Level. |
|
A gloriously simple idea for use from KS2 to A level, as a lesson starter or to conclude a whole Key Stage |
|
Puzzle and intrigue! A mysterious way to help students sum up a topic. |
|
Borrow the idea of a well-known children’s game to revise knowledge of individuals. |
|
Personal memories as stimulus for creating or summarising a sense of period |
Using your own memories to model the key features of any period |
Using family history to create an overview of the 20th century |
Students can struggle to see the 20th century as a whole - can family stories help? |
Thematic Studies: Medicine
Hippocrates and Galen: Why did people believe their ideas for so long? |
Two brief activities focussing on the essentials of these long-lasting ideas. These could be starter or revision activities |
Create a physical timeline, using students to represent the periods and key developments in Ancient Medicine |
|
Help your students gain independence, learn from each other and build up their knowledge of Egyptian Medicine. |
|
Act out Egyptian ideas by turning your students into human anatomy |
|
The simplest possible demonstration of the theory |
|
Can your students find the cure for their ailments at the Asclepion? |
|
An activity from Richard Kennett – see it on his own website. |
|
Puzzle and intrigue! A mysterious way to help students sum up a topic, exemplified by Galen's work on medicine. |
|
Big Brother meets History of Medicine: Debating Significance |
Who was the most significant figure in Ancient Medicine? Was it really Hippocrates or would you chose someone else? |
Your script for playing the part of Oswald and answering your student’s questions. Apple juice required! |
|
Did people worry about dirt and disease in the later middle ages? |
A favourite activity from the 1990s that may still be useful at GCSE or at KS3 |
Report the big news of 1559; simulate the work of Pare and Vesalius as they struggle to save Henri II; identify key aspects of Renaissance Medicine |
|
Explore the reasons why Pare made his surgical breakthrough by creating a mobile factors web. |
|
Use a tin of tomatoes to help students understand Harvey's discovery |
|
Find out how Andy Harmsworth provides his students with an engaging and memorable introduction to a series of lessons on the development of surgery (Bring your own saw!) |
|
Explore the difficulties Lister must have had in using the carbolic spray and perhaps discover why he faced so much opposition. Activity by Ian Luff. |
|
This activity explains simply, but powerfully, why Salvarsan was effective, but risky. Activity by Ian Luff |
|
Thinking skills for Medicine through Time – Creating Memory Frames |
Constructing memory frames on PowerPoint that summarise the key points, aiding memory and revision |
Using family history to reveal the people behind 19thC public health statistics |
Two examples from my own family showing how to see the people behind the statistics |
A living graph that examines change, continuity and significance in the history of Public Health |
|
Can your students find their ideal match and improve their knowledge of medicine through time? Flowers and chocolates optional! |
|
A grand overview, creating a physical timeline across the room and asking students to identify the big medical ideas of each era |
|
A valuable revision activity for GCSE, telling the story of the germ! |
|
Turn your students into War, Government etc to help them understand the concept of factors more effectively. |
|
Injecting personal experiences into GCSE Medicine through time |
Can individuals’ modern experiences help guide students through the ‘factors’ to understand how much medicine has changed? |
Explaining how I investigated my grandfather’s wounds and illnesses in 1918. |
Thematic Studies: Crime
An introductory activity that will get students thinking and asking questions and will reinforce their chronological understanding |
|
A role–play that brings people and decision–making off the page and helps students deepen their understanding. |
|
Bring the accused to court to tell their stories. Can the rest of the class predict who will receive the death penalty? Why was the legal system so unpredictable? |
|
Why was 18th century smuggling so profitable, and so accepted? |
|
Would you become a highwayman? Explaining the causes of crime |
Turn your students into causes and get the rest of the class to sort out the rise and fall of highway robbery. Sadly, no masks or horses required. |
History Around Us
Use your pupils as milecastles, turrets and forts to help them understand the Wall and, if they’re lucky, where their site-visit fits into the big Wall picture |
|
Liven up the railway revolution with a trip from Stockton to Darlington |
Norman Conquest
A short-role play explaining how events in northern France affected William’s chances of invading England |
|
An activity providing an overview of the changing possibilities regarding the English succession in 1066 |
|
A short activity explaining some of the links between England, Normandy and Denmark |
|
The York coin hoards c.1066-1069 – raw material for intriguing lesson introductions |
Information and ideas for using coin hoards to introduce the Norman impact on the north |
Can students come up with a good way of collecting the information the king needs? |
|
What does Domesday Book reveal about the impact of 20 years of Norman rule? |
Use extracts from Domesday Book to research the effects of the Conquest |
Students use information about a wide range of Saxons and Normans to explore the extent of the impact of 1066 |
Norman Conquest – Originally Created for KS3
Note: The following activities were designed for KS3 use.
They may still be useful for GCSE students but will need further detail adding.
The Battle of Hastings: Decisions on the Spur of the Moment? (Groan) |
Recreate the battle and help your students understand why the Normans won |
Create a map of England, walk your pupils through key decisions and see how their chronicles match up to the real thing. (Don't forget the hair dryer!) |
|
Rebellions, castle-building, changes in land ownership, Danish invasions, the Harrying of the North and William getting angry in French – c'est magnifique |
|
A physical, involving and very clear way into the nebulous business of assessing consequences. We're hanging out the consequences on a washing line! |
|
Your chance to play William – can you pupils sort out your motives? |
c.1100 – c.1500
An activity that sets students ‘thinking from the inside’ as barons facing King John. |
|
A hot-seating activity that can be used at KS3 or extended for use at A Level. RADA qualifications not required! |
|
Can your students do better than King John or will they lose their crowns? |
|
Reproduced from my article in Welsh Historian |
|
A role-play helping students understand the narrative of events and the reasons for Henry V’s success (on the HA Site) |
16th-19th Centuries
Holy Box and the Altar Table – 16th century religious changes |
Create your own church interior – then change it, then change it again, then ... |
Jen Thornton’s structured drama provides a memorable overview of Elizabeth’s reign |
|
You'll need to move the furniture for this one – but it clearly, simply and painlessly explains the power situation in Europe in 1558. |
|
Tell the story of the Armada by turning your pupils into ships and develop their understanding of causation and interpretations |
|
Test your acting skills and get your students researching Chartism with renewed interest and purpose |
|
A role play that’s simply not fair – but very good for learning |
20th Century
Turn your classroom into a map of Europe to help students deepen their understanding of the outbreak of World War One. Activity created by Megan Underwood |
|
My grandfather’s description of fighting at Ypres in April 1915. |
|
Created by Megan Underwood, this activity shows Y9 pupils why trenches were such effective defensive structures |
|
Explaining how I investigated my grandfather’s wounds and illnesses in 1918. |
|
Walk your students through the map of Europe and make your decisions - then discover the grim reality |
|
Arm wrestle your way to understanding the German army’s reaction to defeat |
|
A revision activity for GCSE provided by Lesley Ann McDermott |
|
A role-play, by Mick Long, to develop students’ understandings of the political situation in Russia in 1921. |
|
Sally Burnham demonstrates how these complex events can be readily assimilated. Chocolate biscuits an essential resource! |
|
Can your students buy a bar of chocolate before their money runs out? |
|
An active overview of key events that creates more complex explanations |
|
Ian Luff explains how to introduce students to Hitler’s rise to power and then build in complexity. |
|
A very effective activity exploring how anti-Jewish restrictions destroyed Jews’ ability to resist Nazi oppression and discrimination |
|
Make the Depression personal and enhance students' understanding |
|
Turn a difficult topic into an enjoyable, effective and inspirational lesson |
|
Were the politicians of the 1930s really blunderers? |
|
This activity created by Martin Strawson demonstrates that fear of the Gestapo rather than numbers explains their effectiveness. |
|
An active overview that’s challenging, enjoyable and effective |
|
How did Hitler's forces reach the Channel? What was special about their tactics and what did the Allied defences get wrong? |
|
Simulate the rival qualities of Spitfires and Messerschmitts and give your students more fire power in their explanations |
|
Turn your class into bomb aimers to discover how difficult their task was - and why civilians were so at risk in bombing raids. |
|
A really good overview activity that helps students to see the patterns in all those events. |
|
Recreate the tensions of the search for Viet Cong to help students understand why the US army couldn’t win |
|
Will students risk trying to cross the Berlin Wall? |
|
How powerful was an atomic bomb compared with other weapons? All you need is an egg - and some egg-proofing! |
|
A gloriously simple way to make your students' understanding far more sophisticated |
|
Your chance to fiddle the votes and improve your students’ understanding |