Events since 1979: Decision Making Exercise | Multimedia Slideshow Students are provided with a detailed breakdown of the key events which took place after Camp David, and for each one students are presented with a decision point from either an Israeli or an Arab perspective to discuss before being provided by the teacher in the…
Tag: exercise
Letter-Writing Exercise: Who was Cortes, and why did he want to conquer the Aztecs?
Letter-Writing Exercise: Who was Cortes, and why did he want to conquer the Aztecs? “You are Hernan Cortes, the famous Spanish Conquistador. Your task is to write a letter to the governor of Cuba to persuade him to let you sail from Cuba on an expedition to conquer the Aztec Empire. The letter should be…
Visual Sourcework Exercise: Who were the Aztecs? | Images for Students | Teacher Slideshow
Visual Sourcework Exercise: Who were the Aztecs? | Images for Students | Teacher Slideshow “The Aztec people were based around modern-day Mexico. Completely isolated from the cultures of Africa, Asia and Europe, they developed a unique civilisation. In this unit of study you will investigate the ways in which they were similar to, and different from, European societies in…
Decision-Making Exercise: Was Churchill a Great Leader? – Part 2 (1943-45)
Decision-Making Exercise: Was Churchill a Great Leader? – Part 2 (1943-45) | Student Worksheet A major decision-making simulation designed to teach students about the major events of World War Two in an engaging but rigorous manner. “In 1939, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland after signing a non-aggression pact with Stalin’s USSR. Britain and France declared war…
Decision-Making Exercise: Was Churchill a Great Leader? – Part 1 (1940-42)
Decision-Making Exercise: Was Churchill a Great Leader? – Part 1 (1940-42) | Student Worksheet A major decision-making simulation designed to teach students about the major events of World War Two in an engaging but rigorous manner. “In 1939, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland after signing a non-aggression pact with Stalin’s USSR. Britain and France declared war…
Border Disputes in the 1920s: A Classroom Roleplay Exercise
Border Disputes in the 1920s: A Classroom Roleplay Exercise In this classroom roleplay exercise, students are divided into teams of four (idealists and pragmatists) and 11 students are also given a particular country to represent. We then go through each of the major border disputes of the 1920s hearing the arguments on both sides, reaching…
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…
Design personalised number plates as a revision exercise
Overview As a revision exercise, get students to design personalised number plates for historical characters they have studied. Accompany each one with a series of quiz questions which can be used to review the course in an engaging way. To help students review key dates, people, places and relevant quotes, provide students with a list…
The Opium Wars: Multimedia Presentation / Decision-Making Exercise (22 slides plus video clips)
The Opium Wars: Multimedia Presentation / Decision-Making Exercise (22 slides plus video clips) “You will be presented with a series of issues which were controversial at the time and remain so today. You should make choices based on what you think is the most appropriate course of action according to your own preferences. At the…
Matrix Exercise: The results of the Indian Mutiny
Matrix Exercise: The results of the Indian Mutiny Students are presented with a detailed list of consequences which they then organise into a matrix diagram which will enable them to answer the following two questions: c. ‘British rule in India changed significantly after the Mutiny.’ How far do you agree with this statement? c. The…
Korean War – Interactive Newsfeed Exercise
Korean War – Interactive Newsfeed Exercise Students are presented with a series of “newsfeeds” about the Korean War, which they use to complete this worksheet, and then answer a series of questions. Part of the new ActiveHistory study unit on the Korean War.
Was the October Revolution a coup d’etat or a popular uprising? – Timeline Role-play Exercise
Was the October Revolution a coup d’etat or a popular uprising? The Provisional Government which took over from the Tsar in February 1917 remained committed to keeping Russia in the Great War. How significant this decision was in terms of contributing to the Provisional Government’s overthrow by the Bolsheviks in 1917 is another subject of…
Sourcework Exercise: To what extent was Martin Luther King responsible for the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Paper 1 Sourcework Exercise: To what extent was Martin Luther King responsible for the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott? A one-hour sourcework paper in the style of the IBO. 1. a) According to Source A, why did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat? [3 marks] 1. b) What message is conveyed…
Sourcework Exercise: The Sharpeville Massacre – Teacher model answers
Sourcework Exercise: The Sharpeville Massacre | Teacher answers 1) a. According to Source A, why was the campaign in Sharpeville so badly coordinated? [3 marks] 1) b. What is the message conveyed by Source B? [2 marks] 2) With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the value and limitations of Source C for…
Sourcework Exercise: The Sharpeville Massacre
Sourcework Exercise: The Sharpeville Massacre 1) a. According to Source A, why was the campaign in Sharpeville so badly coordinated? [3 marks] 1) b. What is the message conveyed by Source B? [2 marks] 2) With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the value and limitations of Source C for a historian studying…
Model answers for sourcework exercise on rise of Apartheid
IB-style source work exercise: Why was apartheid introduced into South Africa in 1948? | Model Answers by RJ Tarr A one-hour source work exercise in the style of the IBDP History Paper 1, complete with model answers to share with students afterwards.
Roleplay Exercise – Kennedy and the Berlin Crisis of 1961
Roleplay Exercise – Kennedy and the Berlin Crisis of 1961 | Multimedia teacher-led presentation | Briefing Sheets In this exercise students will take the role of an advisor to President Kennedy. By discussing different courses of action and then comparing them to what Kennedy did, they will form a balanced judgement on his handling of…
Eisenhower’s Policy in Latin America: Do YOU like Ike?! (decision-making exercise)
Eisenhower’s Policy in Latin America: Do YOU like Ike?! (decision-making exercise) “In this exercise you will form your own judgement about how well Eisenhower handled relations with Latin America. Your teacher will guide you through each issue using an online multimedia presentation based at ActiveHistory. After your teacher tells you about the first issue (and you have…
Halabja: What really happened, and who was responsible? – Sourcework Exercise
Halabja: What really happened, and who was responsible? – Sourcework Exercise The class will be divided into two teams. Each team needs to provide answers to each of the following questions, using the most appropriate source(s) from the list provided to help them. TIP: If the discussion takes the form of a classroom debate, be…
Essay Planning Exercise: Analyse the roots of the Cold War before 1945 | Completed model essay
Essay Planning Exercise: Analyse the roots of the Cold War before 1945 | Completed model essay To ensure that students are sufficiently prepared for any Cold War question that comes up, we spend time writing up a carefully considered answer to the key question. Students will write this answer as a timed essay in the…
“Living Graph” Exercise: Steps to the Cold War before 1945: Relations between East and West
“Living Graph” Exercise: Steps to the Cold War before 1945: Relations between East and West From your completed studies, choose FIVE pre-war events, and FIVE wartime events, to complete this ‘living graph’. A suggestion about the Russian Revolution has been added to give students an idea about how to approach this. Part of the new…
Why had the Shah become so unpopular by 1979? – Hexagons exercise (IGCSE Paper 2 source work)
Why had the Shah become so unpopular by 1979? – Hexagons exercise Students are presented with 30 key facts helping them to answer the question, in the form of hexagons. They then analyse, categorise, link and prioritise these using the format described in this post: “Using Hexagon Learning for categorisation, linkage and prioritisation” at the ClassTools…
IB History sourcework exercise: The Sophiatown Removals
One-hour sourcework exercise: The Sophiatown Removals | Model answers written by RJ Tarr A full sourcework exercise, complete with teacher model answers, based around the following questions: 1. a) According to Source C, why was was there so little resistance to the Sophiatown evictions? [3 marks] 1. b) What message is conveyed by Source B? [2 marks] 2. With reference to…
Interpretation Exercise – Complaint Letters v. Advertising Blurb
Overview: After playing the Middle Ages Time Machine Adventure at activehistory.co.uk, Sidney wrote a complaint letter to the Time Travel Holiday Agent about her experiences. One half of the class wrote similar complaint letters focusing on the negative dimension; the other half wrote travel brochures focusing on the positive experiences! Examples: This approach can work for any…
