1. HOW will you organise learning?
Content (leaves): History – Victorians
Skills (roots): Problem solvers
Year group & challenge: Year 6 (Level 4/5)
The teacher gives pupils photocopies of 1840 and 1900 entries from parish register.
Asks what pupils notice. There is only one thing to notice – everyone married
someone from the same parish in 1840, but by 1900 over half are from outside.
Therefore the task is to find out why this change took place.
Organised into investigative groups:
• group 1 suggests using internet
• group 2 suggests asking Vicar
• group 3 sticks pins in map for successive years. Find no movement until 1860 then
a wider circle until 1885 then a cluster in next town.
Putting all information from groups together they discover that the pattern was
influenced by transport development – the invention of bicycle then building of railway.
Pupils check this with their own bikes (distance possibly travelled by bike) and railway
routes.
Pupil outcomes:
Investigate changes within and between periods (history level 4) and give reasons for
those (history level 5). Development of problem-solving skills.
Implications:
Planning – the teacher’s planning did not extend beyond initial idea and photocopies
of the parish register, but she had very clear goals relating to knowledge,
understanding and skills.
Use of time – this type of activity was unlikely to fit in half-hour lessons so needed
longer periods of time allocated. The activity was also going to finish when the
problem was solved, not at the end of the half-term.
Learning focus – the idea was not to learn everything they could about the Victorians
(content) but to focus on a specific feature (changes in marriage patterns). This led to
high challenge tasks that helped learners to develop their research, thinking and
problem-solving skills.
Content (leaves): History – Victorians
Skills (roots): Creative participators
Year group & challenge: Year 6 (Level 4/5)
The challenge given to groups here is to come up with a presentation (PowerPoint,
video etc) that will show a selected audience (another class in this case followed by
parents) how the local area changed during the Victorian period and why those
changes took place.
The groups had to sort themselves out and agree a format and storyline. One involved
fading an 1840 map into a 1900 one, then doing the same with some photos. A
soundtrack explained why the town had grown so much, when and why the canals and
then railways were built etc. One group put on a soundtrack of Victorian songs which
they sang and recorded themselves. Other groups followed suit and the piece of work
became much more music focused than the teacher expected. This was not an issue – it
allowed her to meet some targets she had set for later in the year.
Pupil outcomes:
Investigate changes within and between periods (history level 4) and give reasons for
those (history level 5). Multimedia presentations (ICT level 5). Development of
creative skills as they made decisions about how to make the presentation visually
exciting and compelling. Development of teamwork skills.
Implications:
Planning – the teacher’s planning did not extend beyond the initial scenario and
making sure resources were available, but she had very clear goals relating to
knowledge, understanding and skills.
Use of time – this type of activity was unlikely to fit in half-hour lessons so needed
longer periods of time allocated. The activity was also going to finish when the
problem was solved, not at the end of the half-term.
Audience – there was a clear audience for this activity (the other class and parents).
Learning focus – the idea was not to learn everything they could about the Victorians
(content) but to focus on a specific feature (changes in the local area). This led to high
challenge tasks that helped learners to develop their creative and teamwork skills.
Examples of learning activities connecting leaves to roots
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© Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

2. Content (leaves): History – Victorians
Skills (roots): Good communicators
Year group & challenge: Year 6 (Level 4/5)
The challenge is to put together arguments that will persuade members of
parliament to improve the Factory Acts governing the conditions for children
working in factories. Groups are set to prepare their arguments and present them to
MPs (adults suitably dressed in Victorian attire) at the end of the week.
Groups need to:
• agree a plan of campaign
• research the conditions under which children worked – accident rates etc
• find out about existing legislation
• put their arguments persuasively (cue National Literacy Strategy – persuasive
writing).
After a first discussion with the MPs, groups went back to the research and had
another go.
They were then shown the arguments used by the 19th century reformers to compare
with theirs. (Which occasioned unusual excitement – “We got that one!!”)
Pupil outcomes:
Investigate changes within and between periods (history level 4) and give reasons for
those (history level 5). Development of communication skills, including speaking and
listening, writing persuasively, organising an argument. Also development of their
research and teamwork skills.
Implications:
Planning – the teacher’s planning did not extend beyond the initial scenario and
making sure resources were available, including the MPs, but she had very clear
goals relating to knowledge, understanding and skills.
Use of time – this type of activity was unlikely to fit in half-hour lessons so needed
longer periods of time allocated. The activity was also going to finish when the
problem was solved, not at the end of the half-term.
Audience – there was a clear audience for this activity (the other class and parents).
Learning focus – the idea was not to learn everything they could about the Victorians
(content) but to focus on a specific feature (changes in law governing factory
conditions for children). This led to high challenge tasks that helped learners to
develop their communication, research and teamwork skills.