Transform your history classroom
ActiveHistory provides interactive simulations, self-marking quizzes, lesson plans, worksheets and multimedia activities designed by full-time history teacher Russel Tarr.
Build and deliver complete history courses with resources for classroom teaching, remote learning and independent study - from multimedia lectures to interactive games and historical simulations.
World History teaching resources for the high school classroom: lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and simulation games for KS3, IGCSE, IB and A-Level teachers.
Which US President are YOU?
Answer a series of questions about US foreign policy 1945-75 which provides you with a profile!
The Mid-Tudor Crisis: Adventure Game
Step into the unsettled world of Edward VI’s reign with this engaging Mid-Tudor crisis simulation. Students take on the pressures of political decision-making, weighing competing interests, personalities and dangers as they navigate the rough and tumble of Tudor government. Rather than simply recalling facts, they must use contextual knowledge to judge priorities, anticipate consequences and defend their choices. The game offers a lively way to introduce or revise key issues such as faction, religion, rebellion and the uncertainties of a child monarch’s rule. Teachers could use it as a lesson starter, a collaborative challenge or a springboard for discussion and written reflection. It also provides a memorable route into the question of why Mid-Tudor politics became so unstable.
The mystery of Pompeii
Step into the world of Roman Pompeii, where the evidence is dramatic, incomplete and full of questions. This multimedia presentation invites students to investigate the city’s destruction and the lives preserved beneath the ash, using images, information and historical clues to build a richer picture of the past. It is an engaging way to introduce Roman society, daily life and the eruption of Vesuvius, while encouraging pupils to distinguish evidence from interpretation and consider how historians reconstruct events. Teachers can use it as a lively lesson starter, a guided enquiry, or a springboard for discussion and written conclusions. The mystery at its heart gives students a clear reason to look closely, question assumptions and make their own evidence-based judgements.
How significant was World War One as a cause of the Russian Revolution of October 1917?
Covers a central part of the IGCSE coursework assignment ("How significant was World War One for Russia?").
SMS Generator
Turn a historical exchange into a conversation students can see and shape. ClassTools’ SMS Generator invites them to create a fictional text chat between people from the past, perhaps negotiating a crisis, arguing over a decision or responding to dramatic events. To make the messages convincing, students must understand each character’s viewpoint, priorities, relationships and historical circumstances, while choosing language that feels brief and purposeful. The finished chat can reveal cause and consequence, contrasting interpretations, political tensions and the limits of what participants could know at the time. It is a lively way to move beyond fact recall, encourage empathy without losing critical distance, and produce an engaging starter, recap task, assessment or presentation for discussion.
What happened to these people before and after our period of study?
Overview In subjects that require students to consider the motives, actions and consequences of key individuals, it is all too easy to simply consider them as cardboard cut-outs that appear on the stage at the start of our story and then disappear again at the end of it. By challenging students to anticipate and/or research the lives of […]
© 1998-2026 Russel Tarr, ActiveHistory.co.uk Limited (Reg. 6111680)
1 Torrin Drive, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 6AW, England
Privacy Policy | Contact
