History at key stage 3    (Year 9)

• Brainstorm with pupils to remind them of their knowledge of war and warfare. This establishes a common knowledge base, eg methods of fighting, causes.
• Provide groups of pupils with a set of cards of images of twentieth-century warfare. Working in groups, pupils sort the images, devising their own criteria for sorting.
• Lead a class discussion to clarify the criteria the different groups used in sorting.
• Pupils, in groups, then sort against specific criteria which look at common threads, eg naval warfare, civilian experiences.
• As a class, plot out the basis of a 'concept map', eg 'cause', 'nature', 'impact', 'effect', which can be returned to later in the unit.
• Use a selection of the images from the sorting activity as a basis for an overview of the chronology of the main conflicts. Annotate a class timeline with dates of major conflicts and with appropriate images from the sorting activity.

• Divide the class into small groups and give each group a different twentieth- century conflict to work on.
• Provide each group with 'cause cards' relating to a particular conflict, eg the First World War. These will include long-term causes, eg rivalry over arms, and short-term causes, eg the role of a particular person.
• Ask the groups to research their 'cause cards', making brief notes to use in the group discussion.
• In groups, pupils discuss reasons and decide why 'their' conflict started. This could be done by asking pupils to place their cause card on the desk in relation to a card with the question Why did X start? They then justify it to the rest of the group.
• Ask the group to produce a diagram to show their analysis of the causes and the links between them to present to the class.
• Draw class findings together and, as a whole-class activity, explore with pupils whether the causes of the conflicts are similar in any way. Use the information to create a spidergram to show similarities and differences.

• Teachers could include an in-depth study on one or more of the conflicts, and/or examine the role of an individual, eg Winston Churchill, Hitler or Stalin. This could link back to the common threads identified in the first activity, eg the impact of technology or the effect on civilians. This is an opportunity to carry out a more detailed examination of the effect of civilians or the contribution of soldiers from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Caribbean to the Allied cause in both world wars. Teachers should also help pupils to understand how the in-depth study relates to the main enquiry question for this unit.

• Use sources such as textbooks, photographs, eyewitness accounts and poetry to focus on Hiroshima. Ask pupils to use the sources to produce a brief description of what happened and why the atom bomb was dropped.
• Introduce the idea that Hiroshima was a turning point after which humanity knew that it could destroy itself.
• Briefly explain the end of the Second World War eg that the USA and Soviet Union were allies and winners, but by 1945 were unequal allies. There was a shift in the balance of power, they had different ideologies and the USA and Soviet rivalry led to a nuclear arms race.
• Pose the question After Hiroshima, what made a Great Power? Create a spidergram from the pupils' responses.
• Using a timeline and world map, identify the stages by which post-1945 Europe was divided into East and West, and the Iron Curtain created. Use the timeline and world map to show the widespread effect of the Cold War.
• Using video extracts or a range of sources, lead a short study of one or more key Cold War incidents, the Berlin Airlift, Hungary '56, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the Prague Spring. Emphasise key characteristics and check pupils' understanding of the overall chronology.
• Provide pupils with statements representing some key features of the Cold War, eg mistrust of motives, use of spies, stockpiling nuclear weapons, fear of nuclear war. Provide some additional blank cards on which pupils can write additional features. Working in groups, pupils undertake a classification of Cold War features by putting the statements in their appropriate place on a concept map organised with the headings 'cause', 'nature', 'impact' and 'effect'.
• Lead a class discussion to compare this concept map with the one made at the beginning of the unit.

• Use film or still images to show the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
• Provide pupils with a range of sources about the end of the Cold War, including contemporary accounts and extracts from historians. Pupils could use these to identify and begin to explain the different opinions about why the Cold War ended.

• Remind pupils of one of the themes identified in the first activity on the impact of twentieth-century wars on civilians.
• Ask pupils to listen to taped oral testimonies from local residents about the impact of war on their neighbourhood, eg zeppelin raids, war work, ARP work, VE day
• Ask pupils to discuss the events and their significance for ordinary people, and locate each event on a class timeline.
• Lead a class 'brainstorm' on whether the local area reveals any evidence about world conflicts. Pupils could conduct an investigation using the resources available, eg
• visits to local war memorials
• interviews with older relatives
• an analysis of local photographic evidence
• visits to/by members of local veterans associations
• extraction of information from local newspapers of the time

• Lead a class discussion to draw together ideas explored to answer the question Why did the major twentieth-century conflicts affect so many people?
• Ask pupils to write an essay to answer the question.