Pupils are shown a range of stereotypical images of Vikings, using slides 2 and 3. This should be used to build up a set of adjectives that are normally associated with the Vikings. But is this fair? If they were 8 years old and living in the lands the Vikings came from, would they like to be thought of like this? Then show slide 4 which shows what OLD textbooks said about the Vikings. The pupils should notice that it is all hostile.
Then show the more recent account which is more balanced. It says that the Vikings were traders but later became traders and settlers. So why do we have different views? Two key ideas are introduced: that new evidence emerges and then less emphasis is placed on biased reporting. Pupils are asked to look at the picture of the Vikings. What differences do they notice: no horned helmet, no fierce expressions, not all men! They are then introduced to the idea of new evidence being discovered and held in a new museum, at Jorvik. Slide 8 introduces the idea of the Vikings being skilled craftsmen and settlers, a point reinforced by slide 9 which asks them to find
