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Activities for A Level

This page lists all the activities that can be used with A level students.

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Information

Not all the activities listed below were devised for teaching at A level and therefore will need adapting in detail and demand. That might lead you to wonder why they are here at all. The answer is that, allowing for those adaptations, the nature of the activity will work perfectly well with older students, at A level and at university. All students benefit from a variety of activities and many A level students gain a lot from structured role-plays, living graphs and the other techniques because they help build up a first layer of knowledge, enabling students then to go on and read with greater confidence and therefore more effectively.

One of the key messages of this site is:

A good teaching method is a good teaching method, no matter what the age of the students

So don’t reject an activity because it was originally devised for KS3. If it’s a good activity, based on sound teaching and learning principles, it will work at A level too.

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General Techniques

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

Comparative Lifetimes

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

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.

Digging Up a Mystery

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

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

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Medieval

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

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

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

The 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!)

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!

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?

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1450 – 1700

The beginnings of the Wars of the Roses: 1452–1455

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

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

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 ...

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

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

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1700 – 1900

Pre–1832 Election Game

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

Shall we join the Chartists?

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

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1900 & After

Failure of the Schlieffen Plan

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

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?

Germany 1918–1939; Living Timeline

An active overview of key events that creates more complex explanations

Rhineland Occupation Game

Were the politicians of the 1930s really blunderers?

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

The Cuban Missile Crisis

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

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