Helping students to participate in the development of ideas in depth When exploring a topic in-depth, this “discussion technique” may encourage the participation of students who do not feel comfortable during verbal exchange. Step one: Preparation First, you will need to select the “stimulus” – the material that students will respond to. As the stimulus…

Helping students to define and justify significance Students imagine they are re-organising a gallery. They have to choose between the portraits of two well-known individuals – only one of them can stay on the wall. First, they write down what they think they already know about the two. Then they look at sources to find…

Helping students to compare and contrast motives Where many historical actors are involved in the same event or change, the skill of multiperspectivity can be trained by analysing the motives of each of them very carefully. This brings out for students the common goals as well as the factors that distinguish the motives of some…

Helping students to get to engage with the biography of an important historical figure Students take on the role of people who have to explain their relationship to a leading historical figure, thereby broadly mapping out his or her biography. Students are given a person that is in some way related to the historical actor…

Helping students to decide the relative importance of different factors, events or changes Students plan a documentary by deciding how much time should be allocated to given topics. Students imagine they are planning a one-hour documentary. The teacher gives them a list of topics that need to be included. They plan by labeling and shading…