We all know that the learning experience for students at Key Stage 4 could be more varied in some schools. Students have told us that, time and again. The lessons are effective but not exciting, they say. Given the spectre of exam results, value added, and league tables hanging over you it is easy to see why this should be the case. But sometimes the activities are repetitive because we don’t have a repertoire of alternative approaches to hand. This summary of 50 of the best I have seen recently will hopefully inspire you to even better ideas. I am grateful to all the talented teachers who have used these activities so successfully. If you are not named directly, I apologise, but you will nevertheless know that the idea found its way into this ‘Pantheon’!
1. Advising the film director
on the historical content surrounding an event such as the Storming of the Winter Palace, explaining how the action / characters should be filmed. Take any event that might have been reported differently and ask students to create a summary synthesis that could be reliably used by a film director keen to be historically accurate.
2. Asking questions
Sets of
