This superb lesson was the original idea of the history team at Toynbee School, near Southampton, and specifically the work of Rowena Roach and the Head of Department Graham Hinves. Since then it has been refined, but it has lost none of its original appeal. Pupils have to test a hypothesis, making use of contextual information which is drip-fed in, while interpreting the correlation between two graphs. In the teaching sequence, it follows a lesson (soon to be featured on this site) in which pupils have to classify types of undated recruiting posters by message and then try to sequence them.
Learning objectives
- pupils can test a historical hypothesis by looking at the correlation between two graphs
- they can make sensible predictions based on what they already know
- they can then draw on wider contextual information to arrive at an independent conclusion
- they can present a convincing case with reference to a range of evidence.
NB This is a deliberately open-ended approach to enquiry. If you feel that some of your pupils are not ready for this, then a more structured set of small questions is offered in slide 8. I leave it to you to know how best to
