Key stage 3 Smart Tasks
Why did President Truman drop the atomic bombs in August 1945? A study in interpretations SMART TASK KS3
This is a well-covered topic and most of you will already have your own favoured approach. For that reason I…
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Smart Task: Key Stage 3
Puzzle corner: SMART thinking skills task on why so many infants continued to die before their first birthday at a…
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How well do these cartoons cover the causes of World War One?
In pairs, Y9/GCSE students visit 9 different cartoons posted around the wall. They have to work out: a. Which cause…
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Court of King Cholera: Where am I in the picture?
This activity works in two ways; it activates pupils’ prior knowledge in a fun way and raises questions about conditions…
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Puzzle corner 3: the strange case of the missing slave
Pupils will find that this example of a black slave, painted out of an eighteenth century painting of a tobacco…
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Puzzle corner: The strange case of the steel helmet
A short intriguing starter activity for pupils presents them with a puzzle to solve. In the First World War, why…
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How significant was Magna Carta? SMART TASK KS3
Pupils have been commissioned to produce two brief podcasts for the British Library website aimed at a teenage audience. The…
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The Empire strikes back! SMART TASK KS3
Having previously investigated the criticism of empire, students now set about defending it. After studying a contemporary Indian view of…
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Smart Task Puzzle Corner – Why did so many infants die when the death rate was falling?
Puzzle corner: SMART thinking skills task on why so many infants continued to die before their first birthday at a…
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Smart Tasks – Minted: Telling the story of changing British rulers by exploring 10 significant coins
If you are looking for an interesting way of offering pupils overviews or of looking at the concept of significance,…
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Rosa Parks – the true story
This open-ended enquiry explores one of the most abiding stories of American Civil Rights. Students are invited to advise a…
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SMART TASK – How did a small country on the edge of North West Europe manage to rule a quarter of the world’s land surface and 400 million people?
This lesson asks an important question that the textbooks rarely cover and comes after students have looked at events in…
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Smart Task: How close to World War Three did the world come in the 65 years after World War Two?
Helping pupils to develop overviews of different timescales is central to the Key Stage 3 curriculum. When so few carry…
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Smart Task: Was the bombing of Dresden justified?
Should the statue to Bomber Harris be removed? It is now 20 years since the statue to Bomber Harris was…
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Puzzle Corner 2: Analysing Victorian photographs: the puzzle of the Tredegar patch girls.
Beguilingly simple, but actually quite thought-provoking, this short smart task teaches pupils not to take things at face value –…
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