Russel Tarr

Reformation Historiography [4]: What were the causes of the Peasants’ War of 1524-25?

What were the causes of the Peasants’ War of 1524-25? – Marxist historians in the East, and liberal historians in the West, were at odds over the motives of the Peasants’ War. Why did their interpretions differ so strongly, and how?

Black History – The Middle Passage – Simulation

Take on the role of a kidnapped young African in this simulation and see how well you can maintain your strength in the gruelling “Middle Passage” across the Atlantic in this decision-making activity. Complete with five different lesson plans. Part of an up-and-coming new Black History unit which I am currently developing which will be…

Nazi Economic Policies

Students use the Head2Head Interview with Adolf Hitler to organise information about Hitler’s economic policies for Big Business, Small Business, Agriculture and the working classes under key headings in this worksheet.

Hitler’s Consolidation of Power – Quiz

A paper test of 20 questions based on the information in the preceeding worksheets. Students should be given the opportunity to revise for the test by playing this interactive quiz.

Stalin’s Five Year Plans – Keyword Challenge

A new interactive quiz for history students at A-Level / IB Level. Rules of the game can be found here.

Medieval Town and Village – Factual Test

A new factual test designed to follow on from the Medieval Time Machine Game.

The Court of the Red Tsar: Simon Montefiore – Worksheet

A grid which summarises the main themes covered in the “Court of the Red Tsar” audiobook to help teachers and students decide which parts can be made use of within class. The audiobook can be purchased from Amazon here.

Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe – Sourcework Test

An updated version of the end-of-unit sourcework assignment, with an improved markscheme. Designed for Year 8 History students.

Hitler: The Rise of Evil [2003] – Worksheet

Hitler: The Rise of Evil – Worksheet to accompany the drama documentary. A complete breakdown of the themes covered across the two episodes starring Robert Carlyle, designed to help teachers decide which bits should be shown in class and to help students structure their notes. The DVD can be purchased through Amazon here.

Origins of World War One – Keyword Challenge

A new keyword challenge on the Causes of World War One. Rules of the game can be found here.

Stalin’s Five Year Plans: Factual Test

A 20 Question factual test designed to test student knowledge of Stalin’s Five Year Plans for industry.

Medieval Time Machine Newspaper Report

A new lesson plan / activity designed to consolidate knowledge after Year 7 history students have played the Time Machine Journey to the Middle Ages.

Causes of World War One – Factual Test

A new factual test on the origins of World War One containing 33 questions. Answers for teachers provided.

The Rise of Hitler – End of Unit Factual Test

To evaluate factual recall, students can then be set this test (30 questions) as a classroom exercise. Personally, I like to get them all playing this Fling the Teacher Quiz for the first 15 minutes of the lesson as “last minute revision”. The first person to finish this game successfully gets 10/10, the second person…

Classtools.net Random Name Generator

I have developed the Classtools.net random name generator so that words can now be “removed” from the fruit machine after they have been selected. This means that using the game in class doesn’t result in the same people / keywords being selected several times each session.

Why did Hitler become Chancellor of Germany? – 3. Display Task

The final part of the exercise involves students approaching the question from a completely fresh perspective. Six – rather than three – factors are provided in the form of cards, each one of which contains essential pieces of factual information. Students have to arrange these on sugar paper, establish links between the factors by connecting…

Stalin’s Rise to Power – Divisions in the Bolshevik party before 1924

A worksheet for A-Level / IB History providing long-term policy factors explaining Stalin’s rise to power.

Why did Hitler become Chancellor of Germany? – 2. Thinking Skills Exercise

Students turn their essay into a flowchart highlighting the essential links between the factors and the most important factual information that can be used to substantiate each factor.

The Tudors – Keyword Challenge

A new quiz for Year 8 history students.

Why did Hitler become Chancellor of Germany? – 1. Skeleton Essay Exercise

In this exercise, students are given three “skeleton essays”, each one of which puts forward a different interpretation of Hitler’s rise to power. Students read through each interpretation, choose the one they agree with most, and then elaborate on each section using their classroom notes. It provides an accessible way of showing students how the…

What was the most important cause of the Industrial Revolution?

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 [Part 1 | Part 2]

Causes of the Industrial Revolution

I have now added a new factual test to the popular “Horatio Ramsbottom: Victorian Entrepreneur” computer simulation. The game itself has also been expanded to include a new decision point relating to Brunel’s “Great Eastern” project.

Who was the most important person in the Industrial Revolution?

A balloon debate lesson plan and worksheet. Each student produces a single powerpoint slide 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.

Tsarist Russia Game – GE Tour / New Worksheet

I have updated the popular “Virtual Tour around Tsarist Russia” with a new worksheet and an improved Google Earth Tour.

Post It: Flash Labelling Tool

PostIt is a useful tool for helping students to identify and then categorise key factors. Each “Note” can be dragged and dropped anywhere in the screen and colour coded if necessary. A background image can also be inserted for annotation purposes.

Dustbin Game

A Dustbin game is great for helping students to organise ideas into categories. Students or teachers can create up to four categories of factors. The game created by ClassTools.net then involves students dragging and dropping each factor into its correct category as quickly as possible in a “race against the clock”!

Who was Jack the Ripper? – Simulation

Armed with the profiles that they have built up using the worksheet unit about Jack the Ripper, students go to this ActiveHistory Simulation which asks them a series of questions about what they think they now know about the personality and appearance of the Ripper. The computer then analyses their responses to present them with…

Medieval Religion – Quiz

A new quiz for Year 7 History students.

Stalin’s Five Year Plans – Test

A 20-question factual test designed to accompany the interactive simulation for IB / A2 History students investigating Stalin’s Five-Year-Plans

The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler: Worksheet

After studying the Weimar Republic on its own terms, students should turn their attention in more detail to the activities of Adolf Hitler during the Weimar period. This worksheet is designed to accompany the first part of the excellent video documentary “The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler (1989)” (30 mins). Sadly I don’t think it’s…

Causes of World War One Quiz

A new quiz for GCSE / IGCSE History.

The Culture of the Weimar Republic

The positive achievements of the Weimar Republic are easily overlooked. This project encourages students to investigate the cultural vibrancy of the Republic by producing a “virtual tour” around the Berlin of the 1920s.

Stalin’s Henchmen – Kaganovich, Mikoyan, Molotov, Kirov, Yagoda, Sergo, Vorishilov

A short factual test to follow on from the more detailed worksheet earlier on in this unit.

Hitler’s Consolidation of Power: Introduction

An overview of the main themes and historical questions to generate student interest. Covers the Reichstag Fire, the Night of the Long Knives.

Stalin’s Henchmen

Stalin’s Henchmen – A worksheet which gives students the opportunity to investigate the key characters at the Court of the Red Tsar: Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Kirov, Yagoda, Molotov, Voroshilov, Sergo.

Factual Test: The Weimar Republic 1918-33

After students have completed both parts of the ActiveHistory computer simulation, their factual recall can be measured using this 25-question test.

Why did Stalin become leader of the USSR?

Essay Assignment: Why did Stalin become leader of the USSR? – Students are given a long list of factors which they have to categorise and then turn into a written piece to consolidate their understanding of Stalin’s rise to power.

Random Name Picker

This is a simple activity which is a great way of rounding off a unit and revising important dates, concepts and people. It can also be used to randomly pick a name from a list of students. You can copy and paste your data direct from Word, Excel and other programs.

Arcade Game Generator

This is a powerful interface: you create one set of questions, then you can choose from four different interactive quizzes. Your question sets can be saved for future development and editing, and even hosted on a website as HTML pages!

Witchcraft Trial – Updated Activity Worksheet

I have updated the popular witchcraft trial lesson plan and trial worksheet to include follow up questions designed to get students thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of both the adversarial justice system, and also of jury trials. This ensures that the trial itself is rounded off with some reflective questions rather than just a…

Stalin’s Rise to Power – The struggle for succession, 1924-29

The struggle for succession, 1924-29 – A worksheet which outlines the way in which Stalin rose to power by playing off various factions within the party against each other.

The Night of the Long Knives

Information, sources and tasks outlining how and why Hitler crushed the Ernst Rohm and the SA in June 1934.

Political Parties in Weimar Germany

Display Task: Useful as an extension or as a homework activity. Students are provided with a diagram of the main political parties in Weimar Germany. They use this as the basis for some propaganda posters for classroom display.

Stalin’s Rise to Power – Who should succeed Lenin?

A worksheet in which history students research each of the key characters and conduct a classroom debate comparing their respective merits.

The Reichstag Fire

A paper version of an online interactive unit (coming soon!), developed in conjunction with John D. Clare. Students use information about the key characters involved to create a “courtroom drama” seeking to determine who was responsible for the Reichstag Fire.

Stalin’s Rise to Power – Lenin’s Testament

Lenin’s Testament – A worksheet which introduces the strengths and weaknesses of the Lenin’s possible successors. Designed to be used in conjunction with this primary source extract from Lenin’s Testament.

Year 7 History Skills – “People”

A new lesson plan / worksheet. Students brainstorm famous people from history, research one each in more detail, and conduct a lively balloon debate to decide on the “most important”.

Stalin and the USSR: Study Guide

A printable study guide designed for A-Level / IB History students, designed to engage student interest by outlining the historical significance of Stalin’s rule of the USSR.

Historiography Lectures

A series of interactive online lectures on the subject of Historiography: 1. What is History? 2. Causation in History 3. The Purpose of History These lectures are pitched at the 16-18 age range.

Year 7 History Skills: “Time”

A new lesson plan / worksheet. Each student produces a timeline of their life and then a timeline of world events covering the same period. They also consider how different cultures measure time in different ways, and how Einstein showed that time itself can be slowed down!

Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages

Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages – A kinaesthetic history unit! Students start by considering how guilt was determined in the Middle Ages. They then engage in a role-play exercise where the class acts as a “jury” and the defence and prosection teams have to go through trial by water, battle and fire. Once…

The Berlin Wall – Quiz

A new quiz, playable in Manic Miner, Wordshoot, CannonBall Fun or Matching Pairs Format

Diamond 9

A Diamond Nine Diagram helps to prioritise and categorise key factors. The most important factors are placed towards the top of the “diamond 9 “. The least important factors are placed towards the bottom. Factors of equal importance are placed in the same row. Each factor can be colour coded for further sophistication.

Year 7 History Skills – “Historical Evidence”

A new worksheet / lesson plan. As a first homework, students produce a scrapbook of personal evidence consisting of photos, certificates, tickets and so on – but with no written explanation. In the follow-up lesson, the scrapbooks are swapped around and students have to deduce things about each other from the evidence that they have.

Codemaker!

This simple interface will convert a message into a secret code using a substitution cypher. When you click ‘Submit’ it will beturned into a worksheet for your class which you can print out or copy and paste into a word processor for further editing

“Bloody” Mary Tudor?

A worksheet based around the short clip from the feature film “Elizabeth” which shows the execution of Latimer and Ridley. Type in “latimer ridley” into www.youtube.com to find the clip!

Korean War – Collapsible Notes

A summary of the main causes, events and consequences of the Korean War, which can be “collapsed” or “expanded” for levels of detail. Useful for revision.

Nazi Germany Simulation: Undercover in the Third Reich!

I have just launched a brand new simulation for students of Nazi Germany. This game is a brand new version of an activity which has been one of the most popular features of the site for a number of years. It has over three times as many locations, each of which highlights a different aspect…

KeyWord Challenge: The Norman Conquest

A new quiz for Year 7 History.

Lenin’s Russia – KeyWord Challenge

A new quiz for Year 12 History students.

KeyWord Challenge: 1066 and all that

A new quiz for Year 7 History students.

Black Death – KeyWord Challenge

A new quiz for Year 7 students of Medieval Realms.

Create a Quiz and Embed it in your own Web, Blog or Wiki!

I have now updated ActiveHistory’s sister website, www.ClassTools.net, so that you can now embed your educational game templates directly into your blog, wiki or website! Try it out at www.classtools.net!

IB History – Causes of World War One

A new Fling the Teacher Quiz for IB / A-Level History Students

USSR Under Lenin – Quiz

A new Fling the Teacher Quiz with 45 possible questions

ClassTools Name Picker

Copy and paste a class list into this little application, then click a button to watch a “fruit machine” animation which will randomly spin the names until one is chosen at random. A nice way of selecting people to answer questions. Alternatively, put in a list of keywords and then teams have to correctly define…

Causes of the French Revolution Essay Task

An essay assignment for Year 9 to round off their study of the Causes of the French Revolution.

Make your own Flash quizzes!

I have developed the Quiz Maker at www.classtools.net so that you can now cut and paste questions and answers from a word processor very easily and, with the click of a button, create a Manic Miner / Wordshoot / Cannonball Fun / Matching Pairs game.

Nazi Germany Mega-Challenge

A new Fling the Teacher Quiz with 210 possible questions!

Impact of War on Nazi Germany

A new Fling the Teacher Quiz with several sets of questions.

Medieval Realms: KeyWord Challenge

A new end of unit quiz for Year 7. Put students into teams of 4-5. The first member of the first team sits in the “hotseat” with their back to the interactive whiteboard. The teacher uses the “Random Word Picker” at www.classtools.net to choose and display a word at random on the interactive whiteboard. The…

The Nazis and Propaganda

A new Fling the Teacher Quiz with several sets of questions.

Medieval Religion: End of Unit Project

A project instruction sheet to accompany the Medieval Religion Unit at Year 7.

Hitler and the Jews

A new Fling the Teacher Quiz with several sets of questions.

Origins of the Cold War – Cartoon Analysis

Analyse a series of cartoons by hovering over details and answering exam-style questions. When you have finished, the computer will provide you with a printout comparing your answer to a model answer. A great way to revise and develop sourcework skills.

Medieval Images of Heaven / Hell

A worksheet, with 5 interactive exercises to accompany it. Students will label different features of various “doom” paintings, then print them off for display purposes. In the worksheet, they will produce a medieval sermon trying to bring alive the sights, sounds and smells of hell from their investigations.

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