Overview The names given to our roads and streets provides a rich source of potential for local history projects. Students can research the events and people commemorated in these names to engage in some open-ended history that is not constrained by a particular topic, theme or period. The following example uses Google Maps to make…
Month: September 2019
Ideas for making the most of your old History magazines
Overview As digital archives of history articles become increasingly accessible for students and teachers, it’s easy for print versions of of magazines slowly gather dust on the shelves before being unceremoniously dumped onto the charity pile during the annual classroom clearout. But looked at more creatively, those old issues of History Today, Modern History Review…
Ideas for using tastes and smells in the History classroom
Overview The benefits of using audio-visual sources in the history classroom is well-established. However, it is much rarer for teachers to make use of sources which appeal to the sense of taste and smell, even though these are just as thought-provoking and evocative and perhaps even more so. Obviously take care though to have due…
Building Teenage Heroes into the History Curriculum
Overview A common complaint about History is that it is dominated by white, middle-class, middle-aged men. Or, as Jane Austen put it, “The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all — it is very tiresome”. Much has…
Z-A: Word Association Quiz format for starters/plenaries
Overview The Z-A quiz format involves revealing a series of words or phrases, letter by letter, in reverse alphabetical order. Students, organised into teams, win points if they are the first to identify what all the words/phrases have in common. As soon as a hand is raised, the teacher ‘stops the clock’ to hear the…
Albany, Birmingham and the Washington March – Multimedia decision-making exercise [interactive]
This teacher-led lecture guides students through the key dilemmas facing the likes of MLK and JFK in this critical period, and comes complete with video clips. Students then have to consdider how they would structure a response to the following essay question: “During the Kennedy administration, there was little progress in civil rights, and Kennedy…
Historiography of the Berlin Blockade
Historiography of the Berlin Blockade Students are presented with a detailed article about the causes and consequences of the Berlin Blockade and a series of structured questions to help familiarise them with some of the key debates and interpretations. Part of the “Origins of the Cold War” Unit
Bringing Codes and Codebreaking into the History Classroom
Overview When studying topics involving intrigue, secrets or subterfuge, present students with the essence of the story in the form of a coded message familiar at the time. Challenge them to decode the message to engage them effectively from the outset. Case Studies Lady Jane Grey (Caesar Cipher) The famous “nine days’ queen” is Lady…
