ActiveHistory » GCSE / IGCSE History

Investigating Racism through De Bono’s “6 Hats” Approach (PSHCE)

Russel Tarr — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:21 +0000

In this lesson, the teacher will take the role of someone with a “Green Hat”.
If they have not already been decided upon in advance in an assembly, they will choose (or ask the class to vote on) one of the numerous “Imagine a world…” discussion points which are provided (or invent one of their own). When the discussion point has been selected, each person in the class will be given a number between 2-5 (Red, Yellow, Black, White). Each student will then be given the rest of the lesson to formulate your responses to the discussion point using the information provided to help.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

PSHCE: Racism (Assembly Presentation)

Russel Tarr — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:58:32 +0000

In this presentation (which will take roughly 20 minutes), students are given some provocative images, an entertaining video clip, and plenty of ideas to think about and reflect upon prior to the main lesson.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Hitler’s Foreign Policy Simulation – Now with a live leaderboard

Russel Tarr — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:45:56 +0000

I’ve developed the ‘Hitler’s Foreign Policy’ simulation to incorporate a live high score board. In this way teachers can easily monitor the performance of students playing the game and focus on those whose factual test score declines during the game.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Classtools.net Quizzes: Events of the American Civil War

Russel Tarr — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:53:15 +0000

A range of interactive quizzes to test understanding.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

QR Code Treasure Hunt: The Events of the American Civil War

Russel Tarr — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:51:46 +0000

Print off these 20 QR codes and put them up around your classroom / school. Students have to answer as many questions as they can in the time available. The completed answers can be used to develop their individual research project stemming from the interactive simulation.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

What should we call the American Civil War?

Russel Tarr — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:48:40 +0000

Students are presented with a long list of alternative names that have been used for the American Civil War. They organise these into suggested categories, compare their ideas with a partner, and then choose what they feel is the best alternative title.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

What can we learn from the songs of the Civil War?

Russel Tarr — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:46:17 +0000

In this activity, students analyse the lyrics (and, if possible, listen to the music) of popular Confederate and Unionist songs from the civil war. They then have to produce their own civil war song to a civil-war era tune of their choice. Their objective is to produce a song which clearly explains the causes of the war. Finally, they look at the legacy of the civil war on American popular music, using examples from The Band, Elvis Presley, Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Timeline Challenge: The Causes of the American Civil War

Russel Tarr — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:44:44 +0000

For this activity, organise the class 5 teams. Display the first event by clicking the button. All the students should copy this information into their worksheet. The first team can play for up to 10 points depending on their confidence. They have to not only identify the mistake in the account, but correct it. If they do so successfully, they gain the amount of points they played for. If they fail, they lose the same amount of points. Proceed to the second event, for the second team, and continue this format until all the slips are used. The winning team is the team with the most points.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

History Mystery: The Causes of the American Civil War

Russel Tarr — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:43:15 +0000

This unit is in the form of an ActiveHistory Mystery. Through a roleplay, stimulus images and information slips, students formulate questions, speculate answers, then research for themselves to produce a report which is then peer-assessed against a standard markscheme. The full investigation takes 2 hours of classroom time and at least another hour of individual research time.

If teachers wish to deliver this unit in less time, it is easy to do so. For example:
(a) Simply give each student a complete sheet of information slips from the outset to answer the questions;
(b) Don’t require students to produce a full written essay on the topic – instead, simply choose one of the Extension / Additional Activities listed below.

Discussion points to follow:
a. If you had to divide 100% of blame for the outbreak of the civil war between the slave states and the free states, what percentage would you allocate to each side? Explain your answer.
b. At what point did the civil war become inevitable? Explain your answer.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Interactive Simulation Game: The Events of the American Civil War

Russel Tarr — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:50:29 +0000

In this multiplayer interactive simulation, you will take the role of an advisor to either President Davis, or President Lincoln. You will be given a series of military, economic and political problems to deal with. Your first objective is to choose the course of action which you think your President took in real life (his ‘approval rating’ of you will then stay high). Your second objective is to correctly answer the factual questions you are given as the game proceeds (your ‘factual knowledge’ score will then stay high). As you proceed through the simulation, complete the worksheet. At the end of the game there will be follow-up tasks. You can play as a Confederate, a Unionist, or against another player.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Keyword Checker: What was the legacy of the Spanish Civil War?

Russel Tarr — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:43:56 +0000

Students paste their essay into this interface and get a score based on how many keywords they have included. Excellent for ensuring topic coverage at first-draft phase.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Essay Keyword Checker: Why did Hitler become Chancellor of Germany?

Russel Tarr — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:51:42 +0000

This tool allows students to check the first draft of their essay to determine how many keywords have been included within it. As such it’s a useful way of ensuring that the essential background knowledge has been worked into the essay.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Origins of the Cold War, 1945-49: Telescopic Topic for Revision

Russel Tarr — Sat, 14 May 2011 14:58:40 +0000

I’ve just launched a “telescopic topic” collapsible list (click here) to help my IGCSE students revise for the IGCSE Paper 2 topic on the Origins of the Cold War.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Who Am I? Revision Challenge Quiz for IGCSE Modern World History

Russel Tarr — Sun, 08 May 2011 08:54:50 +0000

The “Who Am I?” Interactive team challenge has now been developed to cover some of the main topics in the IGCSE Modern World History syllabus (e.g. Origins of World War One, Peace Treaties, League of Nations, Causes of World War Two, Origins of the Cold War).

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

Sourcework Assignment Pack: Weimar Germany

Russel Tarr — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 07:32:11 +0000

A comprehensive pack of sources and questions in the style of GCSE/IGCSE examinations, designed to be printed off at the beginning of the unit and used as homework exercises over the course of several weeks.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory: