This whole-class game is a great way firstly to summarise issues of cause or effect, and then (most importantly and most challengingly) to link them together in a meaningful way prior to students producing a written essay. The class will be divided into 5 teams and one piece of scrap paper to jot down ideas….
Category: Cause
Target Diagrams for Categorisation
The ClassTools Target Diagram Generator is a fantastic way of getting students to break down a key question. Three factors are placed in the centre of the diagram. In the next layer, each factor can then be broken into two examples. In the final layer, each of these examples can then be substantiated with factual detail…
PieChart Prioritisation
At the end of a unit of study about causation, ask students to divide responsibility between factors in an Excel template which automatically converts the percentage splits into piecharts; thereafter they have to explain their reasoning. Here’s an example where students had to reflect upon WHO and WHAT was most responsible for the First World…
Causation Diagram Template
The following image comes from an old textbook, and illustrates the respective importance of long, mid and short-term factors in causing World War One. I created a ‘blanked out’ version which I provide to students at the end of a topic and ask them to decide what factors they would place in the various spots in the…
Living Graph
A “Living Graph” encourages students not only to select the most important events within a topic, but also to rate them (over time) against criteria such as success and failure, strength and weakness, significance and insignificance. Stage 1: Brainstorm: Ask students, working individually or in pairs / small groups, to identify what they consider to be…
Silent Discussion
This is a great way of getting students to conduct some close reading of detailed sources. The lesson is framed around a key question for investigation (which could be about causes, consequences, significance…), and then carefully selected sources are placed at different points around the room. Students move between the sources in pairs, in silence, annotating and…
Rival interpretations
To assess the causes, consequences or significance of an event, ask students to produce an answer from the perspective of one or more particular witnesses. For example, How would the Kaiser’s explanation of Origins of World War One differ from that of the British Prime Minister? How would Hitler explain his rise to power? How would this compare…
