Active Learning on www.thinkinghistory.co.uk

Activity List

Simply, this is a complete list of the activities on this site.

Previously, some activities were only on the SHP site but these now have a home on ThinkingHistory.

 

Overviews

The Big Human Timeline

Use your students to create a memorable timeline that will help them understand all kinds of issues of chronology (Added Jan 11)

The Big Story of Conflict

Every war between 1066 and 1900 in one activity - creating links across KS3?

The Big Story of Everyday Life

The Middle Ages to the present day - all in one graph for the 2008 KS3 PoS

Why did Everyday Life change so much after 1750?

A sorting activity helping students see why life changed so much during the Industrial Revolution

The Big Story of Monarchy

Use Top Trumps cards and the Rebellion Steps to help students see the really big picture

Punishments through Time

An introductory activity that will get students thinking and asking questions and will reinforce their chronological understanding

Big Ideas in Medical History

A grand overview, creating a physical timeline across the room and asking students to identify the big medical ideas of each era

Germs have feelings too! A Lifeline

A valuable revision activity for GCSE, telling the story of the germ!

Public Health through the Ages

A living graph that examines change, continuity and significance in the history of Public Health

Historical Speed Dating: Medicine and Health through Time

Can your students find their ideal match and improve their knowledge of medicine through time? Flowers and chocolates optional!

Bringing Medicine Factors to Life

Turn your students into War, Government etc to help them understand the concept of factors more effectively.

Comparative Lifetimes

A group activity for comparing periods of history – good for KS2 and KS3 – good for A level synoptic understanding.

Wine Gums, Timelines and Really Big Overviews

The only edible timeline in existence, guaranteed to stretch and develop students’ chronological understanding.

Who would you most like to meet at the Year 7 party?

An end of year overview activity. Bring your own jelly and ice cream.

Which ‘Big Events’ were most important in KS3 History?

An overview activity for the end of KS3.

Which people were the most significant in KS3 History?

An overview activity for the end of KS3 that asks students to think about significance.

Using family history to create an overview of the 20th century

Students can struggle to see the 20th century as a whole - can family stories help?

Telling family stories to introduce ideas about migration

How Uncle Frank can introduce and open up discussions on migration through history

When did Prime Ministers and Parliament become more powerful than the monarch?

Complete the thematic story of monarchy with a graph showing when monarchs really lost power

Top of the page

Pre 1066

The Medical Marketplace – an Ancient Egypt exemplar

Help your students gain independence, learn from each other and build up their knowledge of Egyptian Medicine.

What did the Ancient Egyptians think caused disease?

Act out Egyptian ideas by turning your students into human anatomy

Four Humours made Simple

The simplest possible demonstration of the theory

Visiting an Asclepion

Can your students find the cure for their ailments at the Asclepion?

What’s Under the Sheet?

Puzzle and intrigue! A mysterious way to help students sum up a topic, exemplified by Galen's work on medicine.

The Mystery of Tollund Man

The body in the bog becomes the body in the classroom to build students' enquiry and source skills. Activity by Susan Edwards and Nichola Boughey. (Added January 10)

Romans in Britain

Turn you classroom into a physical map and tell the story of the Roman invasion

Equipping a Roman Soldier

Load a legionary with his equipment and change pupils' thinking about the lives of Roman soldiers

Why did the Romans want an empire? The Paulinus Activity

Play the part of Paulinus and help pupils understand why empires were built

How long were the Romans here for?

A timeline to develop a sense of duration

Romans & Wolves (formerly Romulus & Remus)

What’s in the picture? Find out and explore how the Romans saw themselves

Making Sense of Hadrian's Wall

Use your pupils as milecastles, turrets and forts to help them understand the Wall and, if they’re lucky, where their site-visit fits into the big Wall picture

Londinium 60AD

A brief play that introduces Boudica’s rebellion – more Blue Peter than Pinter

Romans, Saxons & Vikings – the Overlaps

A timeline to develop a sense of duration

Boudicca’s Rebellion

Walk through the events and ask pupils to take the key decisions

Thinking skills for Medicine through Time – Creating Memory Frames

Constructing memory frames on PowerPoint that summarise the key points, aiding memory and revision

Change and continuity in Ancient Medicine

Create a physical timeline, using students to represent the periods and key developments in Ancient Medicine

Big Brother meets History of Medicine: Debating Significance

Who was the most significant figure in Ancient Medicine? Was it really Hippocrates or would you chose someone else?

Spotting the BC/AD Forgery

Can your students spot the forgery?

Top of the page

Normans

Battle of Hastings: Decisions on the Spur of the Moment? (Groan)

Recreate the battle and help your students understand why the Normans won

Events of 1066. Could it have ended differently?

Create a map of England, walk your pupils through key decisions and see how their chronicles match up to the real thing. (Don't forget the hair dryer!)

Je Suis le Roi. What happened after 1066?

Rebellions, castle-building, changes in land ownership, Danish invasions, the Harrying of the North and William getting angry in French – c'est magnifique

Changes and Continuities: The Impact of the Norman Conquest

A physical, involving and very clear way into the nebulous business of assessing consequences. We're hanging out the consequences on a washing line!

Why did William want to conquer England?

Your chance to play William – can you pupils sort out your motives?

The Riccall Mystery – how do we carry out historical enquiries?

Start with an imaginary excavation, finish by understanding vital ideas about enquiry. A lively and involving introduction to the process of historical enquiry. (Added Aug 09)

Top of the page

Middle Ages

Thomas Becket Mystery

A physical but non-contact introduction to the murder of Thomas Becket (with card sort activity)

King John in the Hot Seat

A hot-seating activity that can be used at KS3 or extended for use at A Level. RADA qualifications not required!

King John; The Decision–Making Game

Can your students do better than King John or will they lose their crowns?

Meet Oswald of Ormskirk, Medieval Physician

Your script for playing the part of Oswald and answering your student’s questions. Apple juice required!

Why was the Harvest So Important?

A brief simulation demonstrating the impact of poor harvests on villagers. Also worth using as background to the Industrial Revolution.

Black Death comes to Allton

Put your pupils into roles, find out who survives and explore the consequences of the Black Death

Impact of the Black Death: Changes and Continuities

Hang out the effects of the Black Death on a change–continuity washing line

The decisions of a Kentish villager: 1381

Will your decisions improve life for you and your family or lead to death as a rebel?

Why did People Rebel in 1381?

Put your students into role as villagers facing the aftermath of the Black Death, French attacks and Poll Taxes

Discussing Causation with Year 7

Why was Simon Sudbury's head on a spike?
Use the events of 1381 to get students talking about causation – but where does the purple vase fit in?

Wars in the Middle Ages – what was going on?

The Crusades, the Hundred Years War & Edward I’s British wars – all in one lesson

Why were medieval kings deposed?

A role play – will your nobles depose the king?

The Wars of the Roses - More Resources

A bundle for The Wars of the Roses at A Level – resources, additional activities and more

The Wars of the Roses Part 1: Rivalries and Alliances 1450 – 1455

An introduction to the events leading up to the first battle of St. Albans

Feuds and Alliances: 1452–1455

A brief activity enabling students to work out how feuds led to alliances and how these alliances determined the sides at the first battle of St. Albans.

Beginnings of the Wars of the Roses: 1452–1455

A role–play introduction to the people and events for A level and above

Understanding the Pattern of Events 1455–1461

Three brief activities exploring the pattern of events between 1455 and 1461

1471: Why did Edward IV win the crown back?

A card-sort demonstrating how to use the Enquiry Process to help students study more independently and with more confidence. (Added Aug 09)

Why did Burgundy help Edward IV win back his crown in 1471?

This brief role-play explores why Burgundy helped Edward IV in 1471.

How certain are we that Richard III murdered the Princes in the Tower?

A two stage activity for KS3, firstly telling the story of 1483, then exploring the evidence for the fate of the Princes.

Discovering Richard III

An exploration of the 2012 finds in Leicester and what they do – and don’t – tell us.

Top of the page

c.1500–1700

Henry Tudor's Road to the Throne

Create a living graph to show just how unlikely a king Henry Tudor really was

Henry VII's Use of Bonds

You play the part of Henry VII and your students are the nobles - how will they feel about bonds?

Henry VIII, Wolsey and Europe 1509-1529

Turn your room into a map of Europe and chart Henry's road to glory – or failure

Dissolution of the Monasteries

A role play that focusses on people and the importance of monasteries to communities

Henry VIII & his Wives – which Queen lasted longest?

A timeline to develop a sense of duration

YouTube at A level – the Case of Perkin Warbeck

A map, a whiteboard, a camera – and enhanced understanding of Warbeck’s travels

Holy Box and the Altar Table – 16th century religious changes

Create your own church interior – then change it, then change it again, then ...

Kett’s Rebellion – what happened and why?

A role–play that brings people and decision–making off the page and helps students deepen their understanding.

Why Did They Go to America?

Hats, false beards and an introduction to causation!

Elizabeth I and Europe in 1558

You'll need to move the furniture for this one – but it clearly, simply and painlessly explains the power situation in Europe in 1558.

Why did the Armada fail?

Tell the story of the Armada by turning your pupils into ships and develop their understanding of causation and interpretations

Pare, Vesalius and Henri II

Report the big news of 1559; simulate the work of Pare and Vesalius as they struggle to save Henri II; identify key aspects of Renaissance Medicine

Pare - Why did it happen then?

Explore the reasons why Pare made his surgical breakthrough by creating a mobile factors web.

Using locality to introduce the Civil War – The Civil War in Leeds

Your students become the people of Leeds in 1642. Will they survive the Civil War? An activity showing how to use your locality to inspire interest in the Civil War.

When did they decide to execute Charles?

Create a graph to tackle students' misconceptions about what Parliament wanted from the Civil War.

Civil War comes to Deerhurst

A role play for A Level students who take the roles of the leading villagers of Deerhurst, dealing with the pressures put on them by Royalists and Parliamentarians

Will you have finished school before Charles I is executed?

A timeline to develop a sense of duration

Who Will Hang? Unpredictability of the Bloody Code

Bring the accused to court to tell their stories. Can the rest of the class predict who will receive the death penalty? Why was the legal system so unpredictable?

Great Cheese Mystery

What's it about? That would be telling. Better click here and find out!

Would you become a highwayman? Explaining the causes of crime

Turn your students into causes and get the rest of the class to sort out the rise and fall of highway robbery. Sadly, no masks or horses required.

Arteries, Veins and Capillaries – what Harvey couldn’t see!

Use a tin of tomatoes to help students understand Harvey's discovery

Top of the page

c.1700–1900

When did Prime Ministers and Parliament become more powerful than the monarch?

Complete the thematic story of monarchy with a graph showing when monarchs really lost power

Smugglers Ahoy: Tea for Sale

Why was 18th century smuggling so profitable, and so accepted?

Turnpikes: Mobilising the Transport Revolution

Recreate the journey times before and after turnpikes and revolutionise understanding

Why did Prime Ministers become more powerful than the monarch c.1780-1830?

A quick card sort to summarise the reasons for change in royal power

Inventions, Inventions!

Find the connections and show how one invention led to another and transformed the textile industry

Why did Everyday Life change so much after 1750?

A sorting activity helping students see why life changed so much during the Industrial Revolution – Note, this activity is also included above, in Overviews

Pre–1832 Election Game

A role play that’s simply not fair – but very good for learning

Did the Train Arrive on Time?

Liven up the railway revolution with a trip from Stockton to Darlington

Shall we join the Chartists?

Test your acting skills and get your students researching Chartism with renewed interest and purpose

Simulating an Early Nineteenth-Century Surgical Operation

Find out how Andy Harmsworth provides his students with an engaging and memorable introduction to a series of lessons on the development of surgery (Bring your own saw!).
On the SHP website – www.schoolshistoryproject.org.uk

Lister's Antiseptic spray

Explore the difficulties Lister must have had in using the carbolic spray and perhaps discover why he faced so much opposition. Activity by Ian Luff.

Did Victoria’s reign last longer than Granny?

A timeline to develop a sense of duration

Making the Industrial Revolution human through family history

How great-grandfather Seth opens up key features of the Industrial Revolution

How much history did the Industrial Revolution overturn?

An outline idea for helping students understand how revolutionary the Industrial Revolution was

How did the Industrial Revolution change where people lived?

The Population Revolution 1750-1901: Use the space in your classroom to map out the change from rural to urban life

Who's got the answer to the problem? The story of the Industrial Revolution

An overview activity introducing a wide range of developments from 1750-1900 – a positive view of the Industrial Revolution!

Top of the page

1900 & After

Salvarsan – Guiding the Psychopathic Germ Killer

This activity explains simply, but powerfully, why Salvarsan was effective, but risky. Activity by Ian Luff

How did Europe come to the brink of war in 1914?

Turn your classroom into a map of Europe to help students deepen their understanding of the outbreak of World War One. Activity created by Megan Underwood (added August 09)

Understanding Trench Warfare

Created by Megan Underwood, this activity shows Y9 pupils why trenches were such effective defensive structures (added December 09)

Failure of the Schlieffen Plan

Walk your students through the map of Europe and make your decisions - then discover the grim reality

The ‘stab in the back’ 1918

Arm wrestle your way to understanding the German army’s reaction to defeat

Should we support the Bolsheviks – 1921

A role-play, by Mick Long, to develop students’ understandings of the political situation in Russia in 1921.

Stalin, Trotsky & the struggle for power after Lenin

Sally Burnham demonstrates how these complex events can be readily assimilated. Chocolate biscuits an essential resource!

Weimar Republic Party Games

Help your A Level students get to grips with all those Weimar acronyms

Hyperinflation Crisis in Germany

Can your students buy a bar of chocolate before their money runs out?

Reichstag 1932-1933: How did Hitler finally gain power?

Ian Luff explains how to introduce students to Hitler’s rise to power and then build in complexity. Added Dec. 09

Germany 1918–1939; Living Timeline

An active overview of key events that creates more complex explanations

Role-playing Unemployment in the 1930s

Make the Depression personal and enhance students' understanding

Re-packaging the Alphabet Agencies and the New Deal

Turn a difficult topic into an enjoyable, effective and inspirational lesson

Rhineland Occupation Game

Were the politicians of the 1930s really blunderers?

South Africa in the 1930’s & 40’s: A Living Timeline

An active overview that’s challenging, enjoyable and effective

Using family memories to explore changes in everyday life

Hot water? electricity? What was new when you were growing up?

Using family history to create an overview of the 20th century

Students can struggle to see the 20th century as a whole - can family stories help?

Getting personal with wars – family starters for investigating the start of World War Two

I don't know why my Dad joined up in 1939. What possibilities can you suggest?

Breakthrough in the West, 1940

How did Hitler's forces reach the Channel? What was special about their tactics and what did the Allied defences get wrong?

Why did the RAF win the Battle of Britain?

Simulate the rival qualities of Spitfires and Messerschmitts and give your students more fire power in their explanations

How safe were air raid shelters for the poor in Britain's cities?

Ian Luff demonstrates the weaknesses of air–raid shelters and provides a documentary activity exploring the destruction of one shelter in London. (Added December 09)

World War Two: Why was accurate bombing so difficult?

Turn your class into bomb aimers to discover how difficult their task was - and why civilians were so at risk in bombing raids. (Added December 09)

World War Two Living Graph

A really good overview activity that helps students to see the patterns in all those events.

Dilemma Based Learning - with an example for the Holocaust

Julia Huber introduces her use of dilemmas for motivating students and improving their decision-making.

Women in Nazi Germany

An ‘engaging’ activity devised by Christina Pascoe to develop students’ understanding of the ‘ideal woman’ Nazi Germany – on the SHP website.

Where are the Viet Cong?

Recreate the tensions of the search for Viet Cong to help students understand why the US army couldn’t win

Shall we escape to the West?

Will students risk trying to cross the Berlin Wall?
A practical activity that really improves discussion, thinking and understanding. (Added December 09)

The Atom Bomb – a Classroom Demonstration!

How powerful was an atomic bomb compared with other weapons? All you need is an egg - and some egg-proofing! (Added December 09)

Cuban Missile Crisis

A gloriously simple way to make your students’ understanding far more sophisticated

Gerrymandering in Northern Ireland

Your chance to fiddle the votes and improve your students’ understanding

Top of the page

Non-Period

Making sense of BC and AD

Turn you pupils into a timeline and accelerate their understanding of vital chronological terms

Outlining Historiography at A Level

Create a timeline showing why interpretations change

Timelines for Understanding Duration

Simple techniques for developing a key aspect of chronological understanding

Who's Round the Table?

Help your A level students remember who was who

Physical Family Trees

Ever confused Mary Tudor and Mary, Queen of Scots? A simple way of disentangling the Marys and many other confusing people.

What's on the Agenda?

Get your next A level topic off to a demanding start by turning your class into the royal council, the cabinet or the Politburo.

Classroom Archaeology

A simple, simulated excavation to capture pupils’ imagination and stimulate their thinking.

Digging Up a Mystery

A motivating and fun way to start a topic – all the way from KS2 to A level

Bits & Pieces: Using Clues to Reconstruct the Past

Demonstrate how we use clues to reconstruct the past. A shattering experience for all!

Guess Who? Post it!

A gloriously simple idea for use from KS2 to A level, as a lesson starter or to conclude a whole Key Stage

The Riccall Mystery – how do we carry out historical enquiries?

Start with an imaginary excavation, finish by understanding vital ideas about enquiry. A lively and involving introduction to the process of historical enquiry (Added Aug 09)

Do you remember when … we did an enquiry?

This PowerPoint sequence can be used before a new enquiry to remind students of the process.

Using family generations to link back to past events

Create a timeline of your family's generations to travel back in time to …

Telling family stories to introduce ideas about migration

How Uncle Frank can introduce and open up discussions on migration through history

Personal memories as stimulus for creating or summarising a sense of period

Using your own memories to model the key features of any period

Injecting personal experiences into GCSE Medicine through time

Can individuals’ modern experiences help guide students through the ‘factors’ to understand how much medicine has changed?

What’s Under the Sheet?

Puzzle and intrigue! A mysterious way to help students sum up a topic, exemplified by Galen's work on medicine and by the Norman Conquest.

Is Granny really ‘well old’?

How to use Granny to develop a sense of duration as far back as the Romans.

Discussing Causation with Year 7

Why was Simon Sudbury's head on a spike?
Use the events of 1381 to get students talking about causation – but where does the purple vase fit in?

Historical Who's Who?

Borrow the idea of a well-known children’s game to revise knowledge of individuals.

Physical Essays

An effective if unusual way of helping students improve essay structure.

Mannequins in the Classroom

Rachel March explains how she’s been using a second-hand mannequin in her lessons.

Top of the page

This Page

Overviews

Pre 1066

Norman Conquest

Middle Ages

c.1500 – 1700

c.1700 – 1900

1900 & After

Non-Period

 

All feedback ]

Other Activity Areas

Home

Activities by Key Stage

Activities by Period

Activities by Model