| Teaching
and Learning
Music in History Lessons
Assessment for Learning
Schemes of Work
ICT based activities
Starter Activities
Discussions about teaching
Recommended resources
|
Teaching and Learning ideas and activities
This list of activities and ideas will be updated regularly. I intend
to put examples of activities that I've enjoyed using and that pupils
have responded very well to on this section. I don't want it to be a list
of lesson plans though - it will simply contain resources and a brief
overview of what I intended.
| Activity / Resources |
Description |
Dealing
with the Depression
Single resource including:
- Task instructions for pupils
- Situation cards for 6 groups
- 6 'Change' cards
|
Created for a group following
the AQA Modern World syllabus. This activity places students in
one of 6 groups which represent different areas of America geographically
and / or socially. Each group is provided with a brief summary of
what their circumstances are prior to the Wall Street Crash. Te
are asked to think about several focus questions and prepare responses
to these. Following this initial research / checking of knowledge
the groups are then given 'change' cards. These are fairly general
statements that provide an impression of how the economy changed
in the days and months following the Wall Street Crash. Groups need
to think fast and work out how best they would respnd to these changes.
To make things worse for them, and to simulate 'real life' a little
better, further changes are given out without warning. The grops
circumstances, thoughts and action plans for dealing with the circumstances
are checked at appropriate points to ensure understanding and to
give everybody the 'big picture'. I then conclude the activity with
brief presenations by each group that focus on how the changes affected
them (in role) and what they tried to do to make the most of the
situation they were presented with. This allows a range of different
results of the Crash to be identified and shows that the impact
was not only varied in terms of severity but also that the timescale
of 'Depression' may have differed from group to group.
|
Medical Monopoly
Two MS Word downloads
Board
and suggested rules
Question
sets
|
A fairly simple but very
effective revision game. This is based on the game board 'Monopoly'
and uses a pretty similar format. When I've used this with classes
I've normally allowed them to use the rules I include here as a
set of ideas that they can adapt - this has normally led to quick
and easy use of the game rather than hours wading through the rules
etc.
How to use it? Simple really. Give them the board, some dice and
the questions and let them get on with it. As this version is limited
in terms of time period I've sometimes given follow up tasks of
creating question sets on additional factors and periods. |
Medieval Medicine
Four MS Word downloads
Introduction
Notes
for teachers
Activity
sheet - doctors
Activity
sheet - patients |
Medieval medicine is a combination
of game, role-play and revision exercise. It combines researched material
with simulation to allow students to further develop their understanding
of Medicine during the medieval era.
The game allows for discreet differentiation, allowing students
of all abilities to access the exercise. More able students would
find the role of the doctors particularly challenging as these roles
can be used to encourage detailed research prior to the activity
and an acute awareness of the beliefs systems and treatments during
the exercise. Lower attaining students will be able to develop their
understanding of the range of treatment types, and should have developed
an awareness of the differing sets of belief that were prevalent
during the Middle ages.
This works best ina VERY big room - I've done in it the sportshall
whever possible, using tables as doctors surgeries - also provides
a lot of 'waiting rooms' in which pupils can wait their turn and
write up notes etc. |
The
impact of the Industrial Revolution
One MS Word download including:
- Situation cards for 6groups
- 4 change cards
|
This activity was designed
for my more able students in Year 9 a few years ago.
Students are placed into 6 groups. Each group receives a brief
description of who they are and what their interests are. They have
to consider the developments thhat happen over a period of around
100 years and explain the consequences of these and the likely reaction
to these events by people whom they've been asked to empathise with.
I've run the activity in two ways. First say in groups acting as
political pressure groups trying to persuade the council (me) to
make changes best suited to their interests. The developments are
given to groups at irregular intervals so that they have to think
quickly and focus their discussions.
The second method was to ask several students to stand as a local
MP. They were canvassing the opinions of te electorate - and things
changed during this process. Resources in addition to those below
were also used for this version.
This
activity is one that is included in the Active Learning seminar
on the History Teachers' Discussion Forum. Click
here to visit the seminar for related ideas. |
Creating a radio programme
- Public Health
Varied resources:
Workshop
plans
Recording
at the Radio station and follow up session plans
The
Radio programme - .wma format |
Unlike the other activities
this selection is very much a series of lesson plans. However, please
don't let that put you off! I've included these as I think it's
a good example of how you can hit a range of objectives.
The activities noted show a progression through some of the lessons
involved in creating a radio documentary programme from scratch.
This includes use of the Critical Skills model to share learning
between students, of peer, slef and adult assessment of drafts and
practice sessions and hopefully it illustrates highly effective
ways of differentiating in a number of ways in one sequence of lessons.
Note - HMI observed 3 hours of this sequence and it was deemed
to be "outstanding in all respects." The one and only
time I've heard an inspector say what they thought in front of students!
|
HIGHLY recommended
The following links are to exercises on thinkinghistory.co.uk
or the SHP website.
These actiities are listed chronologically, with overview activities
at the beginning of the list. You can search for activities by Key Stage,
Activity Type and by period of time by going to thinkinghistory.co.uk.
This will also ensure that you have access to the most recent deelopments
from this website.
Overviews
Pre 1066
Normans
Middle Ages
c.1500–1700
c.1700–1900
1900 & After
Non-Period
|
In this
unit:
|
