Sometimes students need a simpler way to explain a difficult event in history. Diagrams are good but so is the logical approach of mathematics. Students are used to being told to show their working out when doing maths but do not always transfer the same principle to other subjects, such as history. It could be argued that showing the working out in history is more important as there is rarely one correct answer. Therefore this lesson aims to get the students to show their working out and appreciate the benefits and process. Examiners want the student not only to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding but also demonstrate the difficult skills of analysis and evaluation. Showing their working, or expressing their process will enable students to achieve these skills.

This is an interesting look at how democracy changed and emerged in the early twentieth century. The students will be encouraged to look at how women gained the vote but also about power in society and how that is used. This topic fits in perfectly with other aspects of the curriculum. This topic is key to understanding some of the changes in the last century and how we come to live in our world today. The Pack includes Lesson Plan, PowerPoint and Handouts.

One of the hardest things to comprehend, especially when young is the passage of time. One of the easiest things to get wrong therefore is time management, especially as the idea of an A level taking two years is misleading. Being able to manage and plan time effectively as well as working with other likeminded people could be beneficial. This Lesson can also be used at the beginning of the course.

Make History come alive. History is often portrayed as what happened to other people and the students sometimes struggle to empathise with the characters they are introduced to. These activities have the students conduct some historical research on being a 14 year old at different periods over the last one hundred years. Thus the students compare themselves today with their ipads and rights to those children that experienced a vastly different existence during the twentieth century. This activity is not so much about empathising with 14 year olds in the past but more to focus on the idea of change and continuity. The students are investigating their peers of the last one hundred years. What is different, why is it different and is now better? This activity opens up history and encourages the students to see themselves within an historical context. Includes Lesson Plan, PowerPoint and Handouts.

The world created in the classroom is often a simple one in that everything fits with everything else. When talking about a rebellion breaking out in Norwich and a King who quickly quashes it, there is often the simplicity of a Television drama. We know of the rebellion and we know the King responds but the context to make it real is often lost. For example do the students know where Norwich is? If not then it is difficult to get them to fully understand the full implication of the rebellion. Students today live in an instant world. They upload their work to a ‘cloud’ and receive information instantly. This is not the world they have to understand for their ‘A’ levels. While most students appreciate this point to an extent they still struggle with how slow the world was before the internet and the iPhone.

This is an excellent way to incorporate numeracy into the history curriculum as well as appealing to those students who are more visual in their learning. This is unique and inventive way of viewing complex historical arguments. Often students find pages of notes comlex or difficult to gain simple patterns from. By viewing the arguments and evidence visually the students get to see the big picture much more clearly. Use Pie charts and graphs to sort information to make arguments and conclusions easier. The example one in the resource is on the Northern Rebellion but the principle can be applied to all aspects of history. Contains a PowerPoint and Lesson Plan

Values are never static; they are changing all the time and are different from person to person. The values, freedoms, laws and customs that shape us today are not universal and yet they influence our views of other people, both today and in the past. The students would have a better understanding of a period if they understood the values of the people at that time. Alternatively they may be able to think of criticisms with the behaviour of people in the past if they apply today’s values. This Lesson aims to get the students to think about our values today as well as those in their period of study. The students should then be able to place the actions of the past in context. This is especially important when the students are expected to evaluate the period of study.

A simple and interactive resource to explain a complex situation. All discussions in history involve money, especially in the sixteenth century. However, it is never really discussed how the money that monarchs borrow is created and the consequences of this. This resources looks at how money is made in the banking system during the Sixteenth Century (and later). This topic also allows the teacher to link the past with the banking system of today and the influence it also has on power. This activity is rare for the sixth form in that it encourages the students to get out of their seats and actively take part in the learning. Contains a PowerPoint and Lesson Plan and resources

This resource is a counterpoint to the standard view of D-Day in that it focuses on the invasion from the point of view of the Germans trying to stop it. Through three tasks the students will be asked to use their knowledge of the Second World War before 1944 to determine whether or not the D-Day landings were likely to be prevented. The tasks ask the students to develop their arguing skills as well as drawing on evidence they have collected. The key is that it gets the students to think differently and therefore is a vital companion to traditional D-Day teachings.

The decision to drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima had consequences far beyond the people in that Japanese city. It changed the world. This activity aims to give a little background to the development as well as some information about the actual consequences on the people in the city. Firstly the students will look at the science of the Atomic Bomb. What is it that makes it work? Secondly, they will look at what happened when the bombs were dropped. The third aspect is the most important one. The aim of the task is for the students themselves to decide if the decision was the right one. This is not just empathising with the people who suffered or even those who made the decision. The students will have to decide themselves and then try to influence their classmates about what the correct decision was. Includes Lesson Plan, PowerPoint and Handouts. PowerPoint presentation contains sensitive image(s) and teachers are advised

The Second World War brought the fighting home like never before. Parents faced the difficult decision of what to do with their children? Where was the safest place for them? The children had to be separated from their family and the only area they had ever known and travel great distances into the unknown. This Lesson concerns the experience of those evacuees as well as the difficult decision that their parents faced. It contains a variety of activities that can be stretched over a few lessons and includes homework ideas as well.

D-Day is one of the key events of the Second World War and the 20th Century. It is one of those events that people have heard of even if they don’t know the specific details. The students are to complete an investigation into the planning of D-Day and then use a source to look at how the soldiers were motived and prepared for the invasion. These tasks can easily run into several lessons and you will find all of the resources needed are provided. That's 6 worksheets, a scheme of work and a corresponding PowerPoint. Unusually for this kind of lesson, the work includes a look at the German perspective when discussing empathy. Activity Aims: 1. To have an understanding of what Day was? 2. To investigate why D-Day took place where it did? This Lesson contains a variety of activities, some group, that develop a lot of the key skills needed in History as well as exploring a key topic.

At times ‘A’ level history can get a tad complicated and students get lost in the information they are given. Added to this is the tendency for students to make lots of written notes, where again they get lost in the information. Students often need a more simplistic version of events and this Recipe aims to provide the medium for that. Within science, cause and effect, can be quite simple process and is often predictable, indeed that is the aim of science. However, people respond differently to inanimate objects and therefore the process is a little harder. Nonetheless the simple way of looking at cause and effect can be a useful way to investigate historical events. Activity Aims: 1. To simplify potentially complex events. 2. To show how events in history are never in a vacuum; that they are part of an on-going process.

Understanding what is being asked of you is an important skill. The average person is not expected to crack complex codes but we are meant to understand instructions and work independently in order to complete a task. Most things have a coded element, or at least an understanding of a pattern, whether its language or maths, geography or music. Code breaking forces us to see patterns and fully understand something. Too often people make mistakes or get work wrong because they do not fully understand something; they rush into a task. It is often useful to try and work with others on similar task to see if everyone’s task might be completed more efficiently. Activity Aims: 1. To develop individual and group problem solving skills 2. To encourage the students to see patterns in their work 3. To encourage the students to think differently. 4. To develop interpersonal skills

One of the main themes of the History Key Stage summary is that the students develop and understanding for cause and consequence. Added to this they should begin to ‘devise and revise their own questions’ concerning historical enquiry. The main events of the twentieth century have in their causes the First World War and therefore the main question the students should ask is ‘Why did the First World War happen?’ The question of why? should be one of the most important that a student of history can ask and this Recipe aims to encourage this. It is not enough to know that something happened but to understand why it happened. Obviously this is a Year Nine lesson and, therefore, the full back ground of the First World War cannot be covered, However, the students will focus on three main themes to direct their questions.

The Cold War is often ignored in Year 9 history because is a perceived lack of resources available or simply that the two World Wars take up so much teaching time. This Lesson aims to give a basic overview of the Cold War and focus on a few examples of how it affected the world. This is such a good topic to cover as it hits so many aspects of the Key Stage 3 programme of study. The nature of the cold war means that it covers more than British history. It also covers many different cultures and the conflict between them. It offers the students an opportunity to see very clearly how historians and people can have different interpretations of events and as such is a good way of showing the risks of using and trusting all sources. Activity Aims: 1. To understand what the Cold War was? 2. To investigate a few examples of the Cold War in practice. 3. To develop the students understanding of propaganda.

This is a complete unit of work that covers Hitler's rise to power from the before the Munich Putsch to becoming Fuhrer in 1934. The main work is completed through a workbook and there is a very strong emphasis on the students planning and completing their own work. The pack contains notes, work, questions, sources and a variety of resources across 12 handouts that make up the workbook. There is even a PowerPoint to go with all the lessons. This is a huge piece of work that will save you hours of work and also be refreshing for the students.

To behave deviantly is to behave differently from the norm. It is not just about breaking the rules or behaving criminally. This task is about deviance in terms of norms and expectations; Behaving and thinking differently. The students have been conditioned to behave in a certain way for most of their school life. Students are often encouraged to conform and behave passively but within higher education and business this often hinders success. Ofsted claim that an outstanding lesson should be one in which students ‘learn intuitively, encouraging each other to explore, inquire, seek clarity, take risks and think critically and imaginatively’. Having an element of deviance in your students encourages all of these skills. Activity Aims: 1. To get the students to think differently and see the merit of deviant behaviour when solving problems 2. For the students to challenge their own preconceived ideas and processes

No discussion of the First World War is possible without reference to the trenches on the Western Front. If the students gain an understanding of the trenches then the whole experience and time of the war makes more sense. The activities included cover a wide range of topics relating to the trenches without specifying any particular part of them or any specific battle. The aim is to give the students a general understanding of the trenches and life in them so that they can complete a more focussed piece of research on a specific battle. As well as a very detailed lesson plan there are four handouts included as well as a detailed PowerPoint.