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.

Outcome from the Balloon Debate: Paper People Project | More on the “Paper People” approach

“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”