World History teaching resources for the high school classroom: lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and simulation games for KS3, IGCSE, IB and A-Level teachers.
 

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PowerPoint Introduction / Starter Quiz

This Powerpoint presentation oulines why this is such an important subject to study, and provides an overview of the main changes of the period. It also gives an overview about how the topic will be investigated, and there is a worksheet quiz to accompany the presentation.

What does it take to be a successful businessperson?

As an introduction, students consider the careers of Bill Gates, Richard Branson and James Dyson (teachers can use this powerpoint as an aid). They compare the three men using a Venn Diagram and then each student considers whether they have what it takes to succeed in business.

Crazy Victorian Inventions

Using this worksheet, students are given this presentation of 10 wacky inventions. They have to match each depicted invention with one of four possibilities. They should then try designing their own suitably nutty invention which can be later used as 'Horatio Ramsbottom's' invention in the newspaper report task that follows the computer simulation (see below).

Horatio Ramsbottom: Victorian Entrepreneur

Students take a series of decisions about how to run their new business. How should the workers be treated? What transport system should be used? Should they invest in the triangular trade and the Great Exhibition? Complete with a worksheet and follow-up tasks, this activity provides a thorough overview of the main factors affecting the Industrial Revolution. There is also a paper-based factual test that can be used to test how much students have learned., and a markscheme for the follow-up newspaper report task.

Video worksheet: "Brunel" by Jeremy Clarkson | Factual Test

A worksheet to accompany the excellent documentary on Brunel by Jeremy Clarkson. I get students to play the Horatio Ramsbottom Game, then we watch this and complete the worksheet, then students choose whether to base their imaginary interview on Brunel or Ramsbottom. Based on their choice, they then complete either the Ramsbottom factual test or the Brunel factual test. 

Brunel: End of unit self-marking factual test

This is a great way to test knowledge at the end of the topic. Each student in the class is given 30 randomly selected questions from a database in mutliple-choice format. At the end of the exercise, the teacher can access all the scores at once to put into the markbook.

Balloon Debate / Research Task Who was the most important person in the Industrial Revolution?

Each student produces a single powerpoint slide (using this template) as a key figure from the industrial revolution period explaining why "they" deserve to be remembered as the most important character overall. The debate which follows is a great way of encouraging students to link and prioritise different types of achievements.

Paper people project: Instructions for students | Blogpost for teachers

"Your task is to produce a ‘paper people’ chain which:
Highlights at least FIVE key individuals within different categories we settled upon in our last lesson
Includes an image of each key character (e.g. the ‘face’ of each paper person)
Includes the name of each key character (e.g. across the ‘shoulders’ of the paper person)
Includes detail about the achievements of these key individuals (e.g. in the ‘body’ area of a ‘paper person)
Includes two key words to sum up the qualities of each person (e.g. in the ‘legs’ area)
Establishes connections between these people (e.g. on the ‘arms’ area linking the paper people together)
Merits / double merits / commendations will be awarded as appropriate to the work containing the most detail, the clearest links, and the most attractive presentation"

What was the most important cause of the Industrial Revolution? [Part 1 | Part 2]

This lesson follows on well from the studies of individuals. Students consider the big changes - transport, agriculture, smelting and so on - and try to link them together in a meaningful way. Here are some samples produced by my own students: Olivia | Hanif | Grace