This lesson is a bit different: it’s all about the processes of studying history, and the benefits of different approaches to the study of the past.
It’s pretty high level stuff, but made manageable for KS3 students through the use of a case study.
First, students reflect on their favourite history lessons or topics, and then they are guided to understand where these lessons might ‘fit in’, in terms of a historiographical approach (do they touch on aspects of political history; or are they perhaps examples of social history being woven into the curriculum?).
Then, a case study helps students to understand the benefits of a cultural history approach to the study of the past, as students read first a ‘story’ from the perspective of ‘political history’ (based on Carlo Ginzburg’s famous book, The Cheese and the Worms).
They then the same ‘story’, but with a ‘cultural history’ slant.
Class discussion encourages students to reflect on how these approaches complement one another.
Finally, armed with a new understanding of the benefits of different approaches to history, students must decide which ‘type’ of historian to employ in a university panel interview!
Download lesson
- Lesson presentation: PowerPoint
- Lesson write-up: PDF
- Worksheets 1 & 2: PDF
