This enquiry builds on the work done in the previous lesson, where students focused on movement/travel within Europe. Here, the focus is on medieval Europeans’ knowledge of the wider world. First, some misconceptions about medieval travel are addressed – including the oft-quoted idea that Christopher Columbus was the first European[…]
This enquiry focuses on the themes of economy and trade, using a game: the ‘Hansa League Merchants’ Game’. This fun games helps students to develop an appreciation of the interconnectedness of trade and commerce in medieval Europe. In the lesson, students are first asked to respond to an odd question:[…]
This lesson introduces students to the second-order concept of significance, and gives them a chance to practise applying a set of significance criteria. The focus is on the Black Death and the ‘Little Ice Age’. These two events had an undeniably devastating impact across medieval Europe. After exploring ‘significance’ in[…]
Some of you may well use tarsias to consolidate your pupils knowledge of a unit of work. You can find out about them here. This tarsia has been designed to check out your classes knowledge of the Year 7 diverse curriculum overview unit. It is recommended that you use this[…]
Download this free substantive knowledge test for our 6 lesson overview to this diverse year 7 curriculum – just sign up as basic member. It tests your students’ core knowledge from this 6 lesson enquiry. The second page shows you the teacher answers. Use it alongside the time travellers guide[…]
This written assessment gives your year 7 classes the chance to encounter historical scholarship straight away. First, students are introduced to the idea of a ‘time traveller’s guide’, as they read a short extract from Ian Mortimer’s Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England (2012). Then, they use the knowledge they[…]
This activity serves to introduce the ‘big story’ of the unit. You could use it in the first lesson of the unit, to help give students an overview of this unit on early migration. Or, it would be a great homework activity: students could be tasked with reading the ‘story’[…]
Download this knowledge organiser for this second unit in the HRC Year 7 Diverse Curriculum. The unit is centred around the question: What impact did migrant groups have on the development of early Britain? This knowledge organiser provides your students with the core substantive knowledge, key terms and chronological knowledge[…]
You can download all lesson enquiries in this really great unit on migrants to early Britain. This unit introduces your students to differing migrant groups who came and settled in Britain before 1066. It includes the Celts, The Gaels, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. This unit centres around[…]
This enquiry introduces students to early Britain. It encourages them to think about how historians and archaeologists are able to find out about life under the Celts. Students firstreflect on what they know (or think they know!) about Celtic Britain. Next they are introduced o Professor Alice Roberts’ claims about[…]
This enquiry focuses on Boudicca, the famous Celtic warrior who has been the subject of so much mythologising. It introduces students to the Roman invasion of Britain, using Boudicca’s story to help exemplify the resistance that the Romans faced as they attempted to envelop Britain within their empire. For the[…]
This enquiry focuses on one of the most significant discoveries relating to the Roman period: the skeleton and grave goods of ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’, excavated in 1901. Ivory Bangle Lady has assumed a prominent place in historical study of Roman Britain, as analysis of her skeleton reveals that she was[…]
Whilst the previous four lessons have looked at migration to ‘Britain’ as a whole, this enquiry focuses on the impact of four different migrant groups in early Scotland. The main activity centres upon a ‘balloon debate’, and students are given the task of determining which of the four ‘people’ on[…]
This enquiry focuses on the Anglo-Saxons. They were the migrant group that arrived in Britain in the 400s, and went on to exert such a long-lasting political, economic and social influence. You introduce students to the writings of ‘The Venerable Bede’. Bede was one of the most important contemporary writers[…]
This enquiry builds on the previous lesson ‘Was Bede right about the Anglo-Saxon invaders?’ This enquiry focuses on the impact of the Anglo-Saxons. Students are introduced to historian Marc Morris’ thesis, and they use clues to determine the extent to which his claim that the Anglo-Saxons laid the ‘foundations of[…]
This enquiry focuses on one of the most infamous Viking figures in history: King Cnut. Cnut was the Scandinavian king who managed to consolidate his position as the ruler of the ‘North Sea Empire’ through a combination of military success and clever political manoeuvring. In the lesson, students are challenged[…]
This enquiry follows on from the previous lesson (‘How did King Cnut consolidate control in England?’), but focuses on Emma, Cnut’s Norman-born wife. Emma is one of few Anglo-Saxon women about whom we know a little information, although her importance is still often overlooked. In the lesson, students first organise[…]
This enquiry zooms in on one of the cultural products that the Vikings left behind: namely, the Gosforth Cross. The Gosforth Cross is a huge stone monument thought to have been carved by the Vikings in the first half of the tenth century. Historians and archaeologists remain fascinated by the[…]
Some of you may well use tarsias to consolidate your pupils knowledge of a unit of work. You can find out about them here. This tarsia has been designed to check out your classes knowledge of the Year 7 diverse curriculum early migrants unit. It is recommended that you use[…]
Download this free substantive knowledge test for our 6 lesson migration to early Britain unit. Just sign up as basic member. It tests your students’ core knowledge from this 6 lesson enquiry. The second page shows you the teacher answers. Use it alongside the consequences ‘mural’ task which allows your[…]
This assessment gives your year 7 classes the chance to encounter the most under theorised second order concept in the curriculum: consequences First, students are introduced to street art in the form of murals. They look at a number of murals found of the streets of Northern Ireland and consider[…]
This unit of 8 lessons centres historian Michael Wood’s view that the Tang Dynasty ‘was perhaps, the greatest and most cosmopolitan civilisation on earth.’ Your classes will be taught about, an overview story of the Tang Dynasty. They use wall paintings to make inferences about life at the time. They[…]
This activity serves to introduce the ‘big story’ of the unit. You could use it in the first lesson of the unit, to help give students an overview of this fascinating unit on the Tang Dynasty. Or, it would be a great homework activity: students could be tasked with reading[…]
Download this knowledge organiser for the third unit in the HRC Year 7 Diverse Curriculum. The unit is centred around the question: Was China under the Tang Dynasty really ‘the greatest civilisation on earth’? This knowledge organiser provides your students with the core substantive knowledge, key terms and chronological knowledge[…]
This enquiry is the first in a unit focused on the Tang Dynasty in China. It offers an overview of the key events, changes and developments that took place during the period 618 to 907. Students are first introduced to the Tang Dynasty through some of the most famous inventions[…]
This is the second lesson in the unit on Tang Dynasty China, and moves away from the broad-angled view of the first lesson to ‘zoom in’ on some of the artworks created during the period. Students study a number of paintings that were discovered in the Mogao Caves of northwest[…]
This lesson builds on students’ knowledge of the religious nature of life under the Tang Dynasty. Here focusing on the incredible, 17-year long journey undertaken by Chinese monk Xuanzang in the early 600s. Xuanzang was keen to develop his understanding of ‘original’ Buddhist teachings, and journeyed across Asia – spending[…]
This lesson focuses on the concept of trade, exploring some of the ways in which the Tang Dynasty benefitted from trade along the Silk Roads. This lesson therefore focuses on the under used concept of consequences. Students are introduced to the sheer scale of the trade opportunities available by means[…]
This lesson zooms in on one of the most important cities in Tang Dynasty China and indeed in the medieval world: Chang’an, located in northeast China at the easternmost point of the ‘Silk Roads’. In the enquiry, students are given the chance to ‘visit’ some of the key sites and[…]
This lesson focuses on one of the most famous women in Chinese history: Wu Zetian, the only women to ever rule in her own right as empress. Wu is a figure around whom various myths and, perhaps, misconceptions have built up – and in the lesson students examine the extent[…]
