Thinkinghistory.co.uk

[Dan Moorhouse]

New teaching resource - we've got a few bits of tidying up to do on this site but the resources are all online and usable.

Ian Dawson introduces http://www.thinkinghistory.co.uk

thinkinghistory.co.uk provides the answer to a problem that's been vexing me

for a long time- how to make good quality active learning ideas freely

available to teachers all round the country. A book of activities has never

been a practical proposition but a website offers the chance to build up a

menu of activities slowly and  add several examples of the same model of

activity for different topics.

The opportunity to develop the site came about through receiving  a National

Teaching Fellowship aimed at enhancing university teaching. Therefore the

primary audiences for the site are PGCE History students, their tutors and

mentors but, in practice, the site provides materials which can be used by

teachers of all levels of experience.

thinkinghistory.co.uk will build up slowly over the next couple of years,

starting with a dozen activities in September and then adding others each

month, hopefully including activities submitted by teachers. Feedback is

very welcome - I'm keen to add reports on how activities have worked for you

and how you have changed them to meet your needs.

[John Simkin]

This looks like it is going to be a fantastic resource for history teachers. It is good to see a well-known author making his materials freely available on the web.

[Dan Moorhouse]

This looks like it is going to be a fantastic resource for history teachers. It is good to see a well-known author making his materials freely available on the web.

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There's a list of 30 or so activites that are being adapted for the site at the moment. The plan is to get 3 or 4 of them online each month, roughly tied in with when most people would be about to teach an area.

The bit that I really like is that the sites development will eventually be based on feedback teachers give to him. That provides us with an excellent opportunity to have outstanding resources made available for some of the most complex and difficult aspects of the curriculum.

[Dan Moorhouse]

This looks like it is going to be a fantastic resource for history teachers. It is good to see a well-known author making his materials freely available on the web.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a list of 30 or so activites that are being adapted for the site at the moment. The plan is to get 3 or 4 of them online each month, roughly tied in with when most people would be about to teach an area.

The bit that I really like is that the sites development will eventually be based on feedback teachers give to him. That provides us with an excellent opportunity to have outstanding resources made available for some of the most complex and difficult aspects of the curriculum.

[Dan Moorhouse]

Quick note to say that the site has now been updated. New additions include activities on Medicine, Crime, the Impact of the Norman Conquest and Henry VII's use of bonds.

http://thinkinghistory.co.uk/resources/index.htm

[Dan Moorhouse]

Ian's latest updates:

Dear Colleague,

November brings another four new activities on www.thinkinghistory.co.uk - all using physical representation to help students understand abstract topics.

For Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 (age 7-14)

Making sense of AD and BC

This aspect of chronology is notoriously tricky – and dull! This activity turns students into centuries and lines them up to construct a physical timeline that will help them make sense of BC, AD, why 143AD was in the second century and why BC dates go backwards.

http://www.thinkinghistory.co.uk/resources...seofbcandad.htm

For Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) but adaptable for older students

Why were medieval kings deposed?

Students often have difficulty seeing the similarities between widely-spaced events such as the challenge to John in 1215, the depositions of later medieval kings and the outbreak of the Civil War. This role-play provides a model demonstrating why kings clashed with their nobles and why some of them were deposed.

http://www.thinkinghistory.co.uk/resources...ingsdeposed.htm

King John – the decision-making game

Equally good for building up knowledge and understanding of King John’s reign and developing effective discussion, this activity sets students twelve key decisions. If they make poor decisions they lose crowns and, if they lose ten, they are deposed. This activity is structured for KS3 but is adaptable for older students.

http://www.thinkinghistory.co.uk/resources...isionmaking.htm

For GCSE Medicine and Health (age 14-16)

Germs have feelings too! A lifeline

Tony Fox, who teaches in Teesside, describes a valuable revision activity for GCSE, telling the history of the germ! Students reinforce their knowledge of chronology and their knowledge of the key medical ideas of each society from prehistory to the present.

http://www.thinkinghistory.co.uk/resources...feelingstoo.htm

Our Book of the Month is Lost in Time. That’s not the usual kind of schoolbook title because it’s not a normal schoolbook! It doesn’t play safe by providing watered-down academic text but sends pupils travelling through time, in the company of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, Samuel Pepys and Flora Thompson. It’s been written from the assumption that children learn more when they’re enjoying what they’re doing – so have fun with Lost in Time!

If you click on this or any of the book covers on the site you will be taken to the Amazon site where you can order the book. Money raised through this connection go to the long-term development of the site after the initial funded period ends.

http://www.thinkinghistory.co.uk/publicati...kofthemonth.htm

Finally, if you use any of these activities do get in touch and let me know – and pass on your suggestions for amendments and changes. I’d be particularly interested to hear from anyone who wants Wars of the Roses or Henry VII activities – I’ve got lot more on these topics but I’m not sure how quickly to feed them in!

Many thanks for your continued interest,

Ian Dawson