Overview: Students produce or are given 9 pieces of information which they arrange in order in a diamond diagram. Examples: Arrange outcomes of the Treaty of Versailles from most successful to least successful; Arrange medieval jobs from highest status to lowest status; arrange historical figures from most significant to least significant. Taking it further: Students…
Category: Significance
“Factor Auction”
This is a great idea to get students to think more creatively about which factors are the most important to cover in their written work. I think I originally came across at a session by @MrsThorne at the SHP Conference (who informs me that the slide originally came from @JiveSpin – we’re a professionally incestuous…
Students design a Hollywood Film about the study topic
A great way to get students familiar with the key events of a historical person’s life and consider concepts of significance. Stage 1: Start by outlining the central task [themify_box style=”purple comment rounded” ] You are a Hollywood director producing a film about [person / topic]. You will produce a poster advertising your film, including: –…
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…
Modern Makeover: Where would they be now?
Overview: After studying a historical character, students have to superimpose their face onto an appropriate modern scene / character and explain their choice. Taking it further: Some students should focus on producing positive impressions, other negative – in other words, some images are designed to work as propaganda, whilst others could have been produced by their…
Students design a cover image for their topic packs
Overview: When you provide your students with a printed work pack, or even if they have their topic notes in a ring binder with separators, ask them to decide upon an appropriate cover image with an explanation of its relevance directly underneath. The image here shows examples from my Year 10 students, who produced front…
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…
