All Resources:
By Historical Period, Theme and Generic Technique
KS2 to A Level
This page provides a list of all the resources on the site, organised by historical period, by theme (also called overviews or outlines) and, thirdly, individual activities that illustrate generic techniques or how to tackle specific learning issues.
It’s in the nature of this list that you will find activities designed for KS2 side by side with activities created for A Level. That said, I’ve heard numerous times from KS2 teachers that an A level idea has worked with 9 or 10 year olds – and vice-versa. A surprising number of activities for Y7 started life when I was teaching undergraduates. A good teaching idea is a good teaching idea regardless of age i.e. the same styles of activity work with all ages though you clearly need to adapt the level of detail to the age-group you’re teaching.
Prehistory
From the Stone Age to the Romans: An Introduction to the (Pre)History |
Prehistory – an introduction to the content. |
Active methods for developing children's understanding of the chronology. |
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Part 1: Resources and historical background for exploring the intriguing evidence from Skara Brae in Orkney. |
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Part 2: Teaching suggestions for exploring the intriguing evidence from Skara Brae in Orkney. |
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What can we find out about the people of the Glastonbury Lake Village? |
Explore the finds from this Iron Age site and work out what they tell us about the villagers. |
Ancient World
Help your students gain independence, learn from each other and build up their knowledge of Egyptian Medicine. |
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Act out Egyptian ideas by turning your students into human anatomy |
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The simplest possible demonstration of the theory |
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Can your students find the cure for their ailments at the Asclepion? |
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Puzzle and intrigue! A mysterious way to help students sum up a topic, exemplified by Galen's work on medicine. |
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The body in the bog becomes the body in the classroom to build students' enquiry and source skills. Activity by Susan Edwards and Nichola Boughey. |
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Turn you classroom into a physical map and tell the story of the Roman invasion |
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Load a legionary with his equipment and change pupils' thinking about the lives of Roman soldiers |
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Play the part of Paulinus and help pupils understand why empires were built |
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An article on enquiry growing out of a remarkable find from Roman Colchester |
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A timeline to develop a sense of duration |
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What’s in the picture? Find out and explore how the Romans saw themselves |
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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 |
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A brief play that introduces Boudica’s rebellion – more Blue Peter than Pinter |
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A timeline to develop a sense of duration |
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Walk through the events and ask pupils to take the key decisions |
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Thinking skills for Medicine through Time – Creating Memory Frames |
Constructing memory frames on PowerPoint that summarise the key points, aiding memory and revision |
Create a physical timeline, using students to represent the periods and key developments in Ancient Medicine |
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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 |
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? |
Can your students spot the forgery? |
Saxons & Vikings
An introduction to the finds from Sutton Hoo and their context, aimed at non-specialist teachers of history at KS2. |
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Recreate the moments of discovery, carry out an enquiry into one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in Britain and help children understand the process of historical enquiry. |
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A creative way of looking beyond the treasure of Sutton Hoo in order to help students think more deeply about the people who buried the ship and their king. |
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Was there a 6th century world-wide web? – Evidence from Sutton Hoo |
Using evidence from Sutton Hoo, this is a one lesson exploration, by Neil Bates, of long distance connections in the Early Middle Ages. |
A timeline activity to develop a sense of duration |
Norman Conquest
A short-role play explaining how events in northern France affected William’s chances of invading England |
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An activity providing an overview of the changing possibilities regarding the English succession in 1066 |
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A short activity explaining some of the links between England, Normandy and Denmark |
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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!) |
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Rebellions, castle-building, changes in land ownership, Danish invasions, the Harrying of the North and William getting angry in French – c'est magnifique |
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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? From Helen Snelson and Ruth Lingard |
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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. From Helen Snelson and Ruth Lingard |
Students use information about a wide range of Saxons and Normans to explore the extent of the impact of 1066 |
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A physical, involving and very clear way into the nebulous business of assessing consequences. We're hanging out the consequences on a washing line! |
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Your chance to play William – can you pupils sort out your motives? |
Middle Ages
A short resource made up of PowerPoint slides and/or text pages to help pupils place the period in time and to check their chronological vocabulary |
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A research activity for students – can they use the clues to create their own timeline |
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A scripted drama providing an overview of the Middle Ages |
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Free textbook chapter aiming to identify what students know and think about the Middle Ages. |
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Free textbook chapter exploring emotions and childhood in the Middle Ages. |
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Did medieval people have the same feelings and emotions that we do? |
Textbook-style resources and activity – see pages 3-9. |
Textbook resources exploring medieval childhood – see pages 11-14. |
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Free textbook chapter exploring what mattered to the commons, monarchs and the wealthy. |
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Role cards enable your students to identify what mattered to a range of people in medieval society. The activity is supported by the Student Text in Section 3 of Medieval Lives |
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What kinds of things mattered to Margaret Paston and other wealthy people? |
Textbooks resources – a source-based case-study and overall summary – see pages 4-8 |
Textbooks resources exploring a central topic – see pages 9-10 |
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Textbooks resources using snapshots and summary text – see pages 11-13 |
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A simple activity to develop understanding of the importance of religion in the Middle Ages and beyond. |
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Textbook pages introducing the importance of religion to medieval people – see pages 14-15. |
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An introductory activity for KS3 students helping them understand the core feudal relationships. |
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A physical but non-contact introduction to the murder of Thomas Becket (with card sort activity) |
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Three activities helping students get to grips with all the names, places and terms encountered with The Crusades – so essential for confidence, when starting a new A level unit. |
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Events of the First Crusade: helping Y12 understand the course of events |
An active, enjoyable way to find your way from western Europe to Jerusalem! Deus Vult
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An activity that sets students ‘thinking from the inside’ as barons facing King John. |
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A hot-seating activity that can be used at KS3 or extended for use at A Level. RADA qualifications not required! |
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Can your students do better than King John or will they lose their crowns? |
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Reproduced from my article in Welsh Historian |
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Your script for playing the part of Oswald and answering your student’s questions. Apple juice required! |
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A brief simulation demonstrating the impact of poor harvests on villagers. Also worth using as background to the Industrial Revolution. |
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Textbook resources – a source-based case-study and overall summary – see pages 18-21. |
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We’ve all seen some of the illustrations but what does the whole Psalter include and who were the Luttrells? |
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Put your pupils into roles, find out who survives and explore the consequences of the Black Death |
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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 |
Hang out the effects of the Black Death on a change–continuity washing line |
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Will your decisions improve life for you and your family or lead to death as a rebel? |
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Put your students into role as villagers facing the aftermath of the Black Death, French attacks and Poll Taxes |
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Why was Simon Sudbury's head on a spike? |
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The Crusades, the Hundred Years War & Edward I’s British wars – all in one lesson |
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A role-play helping students understand the narrative of events and the reasons for Henry V’s success (on the HA Site) |
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A role play – will your nobles depose the king? |
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A collection of sources on events 1415 to 1453 for use in A level courses and for independent studies (on the HA Site) |
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Textbook resources exploring medieval childhood – see pages 11-14. |
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The story of Margery and Richard – maybe just for reading? |
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Who were the Pastons, what’s in their letters and |
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The story of Caxton and printing – maybe just for reading? |
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They thought the world was flat and other myths – maybe just for reading? |
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Burgundians, Orleanists and Armagnacs: French politics in the age of Agincourt |
Making sense of the divisions in France c.1400-c.1435 that aided the English conquest |
A package of resources for use with KS3 pupils – take the quick route or the deeper route! |
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A discussion for A level students exploring the nature of late medieval sources and summarising their contextual backgrounds (on the HA site). |
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Activities with a lengthy set of mini-biographies of key figures for A level students (on the HA Site). |
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A bundle for The Wars of the Roses at A Level – resources, additional activities and more |
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A set of simple resources and ideas (using the example of the Wars of the Roses) which may be useful for A level teachers – of any topic. |
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An introduction to the people and events of 1450-1485 for A level students |
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A structured role-play covering 1450-1487, intended as an introductory activity for A level students. |
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The Wars of the Roses Part 1: Rivalries and Alliances 1450 – 1455 |
An introduction to the events leading up to the first battle of St. Albans |
Two activities and articles provided by Helen Snelson that she’s used with her A level students. |
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A brief activity enabling students to work out how feuds led to alliances and how these alliances determined the sides at the first battle of St. Albans. |
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A role–play introduction to the people and events for A level and above |
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Three brief activities exploring the pattern of events between 1455 and 1461 |
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An activity from Helen Snelson who teaches in York which helps students understand the links between and pressures on gentry and nobles around 1460. |
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The Fishpool Hoard: Evidence of Lancastrian Resistance 1461-4? |
A puzzle from the 1460s – why was this large collection of coins and jewellery buried? |
A card-sort demonstrating how to use the Enquiry Process to help students study more independently and with more confidence. |
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This brief role-play explores why Burgundy helped Edward IV in 1471. |
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How certain are we that Richard III murdered the Princes in the Tower? |
A two stage activity for KS3, firstly telling the story of 1483, then exploring the evidence for the fate of the Princes. |
An exploration of the 2012 finds in Leicester and what they do – and don’t – tell us. |
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A case-study for A level students examining Richard’s options and decisions in the wake of the 1483 rebellion. |
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Resources created by Andrew Wallace to help students deepen their understanding and knowledge of the events of 1483. |
c.1500–1700
How do you feel about the country’s new religion? An overview 1547-1700 |
Students develop a living graph to create an overview of religious and political changes 1547 to c.1700 |
Create a living graph to understand why the Tudors were such an unlikely dynasty |
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Valuable reading including a very helpful review essay summarising changing interpretations of Henry VII and much else. |
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A decision-making activity which introduces the key events of Henry’s reign |
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Create a living graph to show just how unlikely a king Henry Tudor really was |
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An intriguing find and a possible introduction to reading about the 1487 rebellion |
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You play the part of Henry VII and your students are the nobles - how will they feel about bonds? |
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A decision-making activity for use as an introduction or conclusion and revision at A level. |
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Turn your room into a map of Europe and chart Henry's road to glory – or failure |
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A role play that focusses on people and the importance of monasteries to communities |
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A timeline to develop a sense of duration |
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Holy Box and the Altar Table – 16th century religious changes |
Create your own church interior – then change it, then change it again, then ... |
A play by Mark Fowle to help his A level students deepen their knowledge. |
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A short decision-making introduction to the key events of 1547-58 for A level students. |
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A role–play that brings people and decision–making off the page and helps students deepen their understanding. |
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Hats, false beards and an introduction to causation! |
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Jen Thornton’s structured drama provides a memorable overview of Elizabeth’s reign |
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A decision-making activity for A level which introduces the key events of Elizabeth’s reign. |
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You'll need to move the furniture for this one – but it clearly, simply and painlessly explains the power situation in Europe in 1558. |
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Tell the story of the Armada by turning your pupils into ships and develop their understanding of causation and interpretations |
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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 |
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Explore the reasons why Pare made his surgical breakthrough by creating a mobile factors web. |
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Use a tin of tomatoes to help students understand Harvey's discovery |
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Using locality to introduce the Civil War – The Civil War in Leeds |
Your students become the people of Leeds in 1642. Will they survive the Civil War? An activity showing how to use your locality to inspire interest in the Civil War. |
Create a graph to tackle students' misconceptions about what Parliament wanted from the Civil War. |
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A role play for A Level students who take the roles of the leading villagers of Deerhurst, dealing with the pressures put on them by Royalists and Parliamentarians |
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Jen Thornton’s structured drama introduces or summarises the key issues and events |
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A timeline to develop a sense of duration |
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A one-lesson KS3 activity that might be an antidote to Black Friday and other commercial nonsense! |
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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? |
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What's it about? That would be telling. Better click here and find out! |
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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. |
c.1700–1900
Using reconstruction drawings to introduce the Industrial Revolution |
Use three drawings of the same place in 1750,1830 and 1890 to set students thinking and asking questions about the Industrial Revolution |
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 |
When did Prime Ministers and Parliament become more powerful than the monarch? |
Complete the thematic story of monarchy with a graph showing when monarchs really lost power |
Why was 18th century smuggling so profitable, and so accepted? |
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Recreate the journey times before and after turnpikes and revolutionise understanding |
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Why did Prime Ministers become more powerful than the monarch c.1780-1830? |
A quick card sort to summarise the reasons for change in royal power |
Find the connections and show how one invention led to another and transformed the textile industry |
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A sorting activity helping students see why life changed so much during the Industrial Revolution – Note, this activity is also included above, in Overviews |
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A range of teaching ideas though not full activities |
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Outlining the pattern of voting reform with a little help from that old favourite, the Corn Laws. It’s interesting – honestly! |
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A role play that’s simply not fair – but very good for learning |
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Liven up the railway revolution with a trip from Stockton to Darlington |
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Test your acting skills and get your students researching Chartism with renewed interest and purpose |
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Getting started with Italian Unification at A level. |
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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!) |
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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. |
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A timeline to develop a sense of duration |
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Making the Industrial Revolution human through family history |
How great-grandfather Seth opens up key features of the Industrial Revolution |
An outline idea for helping students understand how revolutionary the Industrial Revolution was |
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How did the Industrial Revolution change where people lived? |
The Population Revolution 1750-1901: Use the space in your classroom to map out the change from rural to urban life |
Who's got the answer to the problem? The story of the Industrial Revolution |
An overview activity introducing a wide range of developments from 1750-1900 – a positive view of the Industrial Revolution! |
1900 & After
This activity explains simply, but powerfully, why Salvarsan was effective, but risky. Activity by Ian Luff |
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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. |
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Created by Megan Underwood, this activity shows Y9 pupils why trenches were such effective defensive structures. |
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My grandfather’s description of fighting at Ypres in April 1915. |
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Explaining how I investigated my grandfather’s wounds and illnesses in 1918. |
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Walk your students through the map of Europe and make your decisions - then discover the grim reality |
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Arm wrestle your way to understanding the German army’s reaction to defeat |
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A revision activity for GCSE provided by Lesley Ann McDermott |
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A role-play, by Mick Long, to develop students’ understandings of the political situation in Russia in 1921. |
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Sally Burnham demonstrates how these complex events can be readily assimilated. Chocolate biscuits an essential resource! |
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Help your A Level students get to grips with all those Weimar acronyms |
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Can your students buy a bar of chocolate before their money runs out? |
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Ian Luff explains how to introduce students to Hitler’s rise to power and then build in complexity. |
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An active overview of key events that creates more complex explanations |
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A very effective activity exploring how anti-Jewish restrictions destroyed Jews’ ability to resist Nazi oppression and discrimination |
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Make the Depression personal and enhance students' understanding |
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Turn a difficult topic into an enjoyable, effective and inspirational lesson |
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Were the politicians of the 1930s really blunderers? |
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This activity created by Martin Strawson demonstrates that fear of the Gestapo rather than numbers explains their effectiveness. |
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An active overview that’s challenging, enjoyable and effective |
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Hot water? electricity? What was new when you were growing up? |
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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? |
Getting personal with wars – family starters for investigating the start of World War Two |
I don't know why my Dad joined up in 1939. What possibilities can you suggest? |
How did Hitler's forces reach the Channel? What was special about their tactics and what did the Allied defences get wrong? |
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Simulate the rival qualities of Spitfires and Messerschmitts and give your students more fire power in their explanations |
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How safe were air raid shelters for the poor in Britain's cities? |
Ian Luff demonstrates the weaknesses of air–raid shelters and provides a documentary activity exploring the destruction of one shelter in London. |
Turn your class into bomb aimers to discover how difficult their task was - and why civilians were so at risk in bombing raids. |
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A really good overview activity that helps students to see the patterns in all those events. |
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Julia Huber introduces her use of dilemmas for motivating students and improving their decision-making. |
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Recreate the tensions of the search for Viet Cong to help students understand why the US army couldn’t win |
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Will students risk trying to cross the Berlin Wall? |
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How powerful was an atomic bomb compared with other weapons? All you need is an egg - and some egg-proofing! |
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A gloriously simple way to make your students’ understanding far more sophisticated |
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Your chance to fiddle the votes and improve your students’ understanding |
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A ‘big picture’ activity from Helen Snelson and Richard Kennett comparing the state of Europe in 1900 and 2000 |
Generic Techniques
Helping students identify different types of history books (Updated 2019). |
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Ian Coulson’s Teachers’ TV session exploring his local village with KS2 pupil. |
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A couple of ideas putting analysis of the source before what it says. |
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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. |
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Timelines, Time-Stories and Developing Confidence at A level |
Discussion on the use of timelines and time-stories to develop an overview of the content of a new module – vital because it creates confidence, it creates a context and it starts to give a module a unity. |
Using the latest archaeological finds etc to reinforce chronological understanding and other historical skills. |
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Turn you pupils into a timeline and accelerate their understanding of vital chronological terms |
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Create a timeline showing why interpretations change |
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Simple techniques for developing a key aspect of chronological understanding |
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Help your A level students remember who was who |
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Ever confused Mary Tudor and Mary, Queen of Scots? A simple way of disentangling the Marys and many other confusing people. |
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Get your next A level topic off to a demanding start by turning your class into the royal council, the cabinet or the Politburo. |
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A simple, simulated excavation to capture pupils’ imagination and stimulate their thinking. |
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A motivating and fun way to start a topic – all the way from KS2 to A level |
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Demonstrate how we use clues to reconstruct the past. A shattering experience for all! |
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A gloriously simple idea for use from KS2 to A level, as a lesson starter or to conclude a whole Key Stage |
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The Riccall Mystery – how do we carry out historical enquiries? |
Start with an imaginary excavation, finish by understanding vital ideas about enquiry. A lively and involving introduction to the process of historical enquiry. |
This PowerPoint sequence can be used before a new enquiry to remind students of the process. |
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Create a timeline of your family's generations to travel back in time to … |
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How Uncle Frank can introduce and open up discussions on migration through history |
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Personal memories as stimulus for creating or summarising a sense of period |
Using your own memories to model the key features of any period |
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? |
Puzzle and intrigue! A mysterious way to help students sum up a topic, exemplified by Galen's work on medicine and by the Norman Conquest. |
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How to use Granny to develop a sense of duration as far back as the Romans. |
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Why was Simon Sudbury's head on a spike? |
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Borrow the idea of a well-known children’s game to revise knowledge of individuals. |
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An effective if unusual way of helping students improve essay structure. |
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Rachel March explains how she’s been using a second-hand mannequin in her lessons. |
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A twitter-style activity requiring clarity of thought and precision of language and which helps sort out confidence-sapping confusions. |
Themes and Overviews
The power of simple demonstrations – three activities providing an overview of patterns of English or British population across time |
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A ‘how to do it’ guide to creating an overview of the history of your locality. |
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… to build knowledge of Monarchs, Campaigners, Prime Ministers, Dynasties, maybe more! Ideas and discussion about ways of learning historical information – enjoyably and maybe even effectively! |
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Use your students to create a memorable timeline that will help them understand all kinds of issues of chronology. |
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Every war between 1066 and 1900 in one activity - creating links across KS3? |
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The Middle Ages to the present day - all in one graph for the 2008 KS3 PoS |
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A sorting activity helping students see why life changed so much during the Industrial Revolution |
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Use Top Trumps cards and the Rebellion Steps to help students see the really big picture |
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An introductory activity that will get students thinking and asking questions and will reinforce their chronological understanding |
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A grand overview, creating a physical timeline across the room and asking students to identify the big medical ideas of each era |
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A valuable revision activity for GCSE, telling the story of the germ! |
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A living graph that examines change, continuity and significance in the history of Public Health |
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A guide to structuring an enquiry into what people did for fun, covering 2000 years from the Roman period to today, and helping to develop pupils’ sense of chronology. |
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Can your students find their ideal match and improve their knowledge of medicine through time? Flowers and chocolates optional! |
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Turn your students into War, Government etc to help them understand the concept of factors more effectively. |
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A group activity for comparing periods of history – good for KS2 and KS3 – good for A level synoptic understanding. |
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The only edible timeline in existence, guaranteed to stretch and develop students’ chronological understanding. |
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An end of year overview activity. Bring your own jelly and ice cream. |
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An overview activity for the end of KS3. |
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An overview activity for the end of KS3 that asks students to think about significance. |
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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? |
How Uncle Frank can introduce and open up discussions on migration through history |
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When did Prime Ministers and Parliament become more powerful than the monarch? |
Complete the thematic story of monarchy with a graph showing when monarchs really lost power |
Fun – and maybe a useful way of learning about all those medieval kings. |