1. YEAR 7 TOPIC 1 INVESTIGATING HISTORY
Inquiry questions
What is History?
How do historians investigate the past?
Why is conserving our heritage important?
Objectives – Students Learn to:
interpret and construct time lines
define the terms that describe historical periods of time
sequence societies and events within specific periods of time
ask historical questions
distinguish between fact and opinion
draw some conclusions about the usefulness of sources including a
website
examine differing historical perspectives and interpretations
explain cause and effect
identify significant people of the past
examine the motives for people’s actions in the past
explain the consequences of people’s actions
describe some aspects of family/community heritage
appreciate the value of preserving and conserving our heritage
1

2. Outcomes
• 4.1 describes and explains the nature of history, the
main features of past societies and periods and their
legacy
• 4.4 identifies major periods of historical time and
sequences people and events within specific periods
of time
• 4.5 identifies the meaning, purpose and context of
historical sources
• 4.6 draws conclusions about the usefulness of
sources as evidence in an inquiry
• 4.7 identifies different contexts, perspectives and
interpretations of the past
• 4.8 locates, selects and organises relevant
information from a number of sources, including ICT,
to conduct basic historical research
• 4.9 uses historical terms and concepts in appropriate
contexts
• 4.10 selects and uses appropriate oral, written and
other forms, including ICT, to communicate effectively
about the past.
2

3. • The following is a layer curriculum for the topic
Investigating History in the Stage 4 History curriculum.
There are 3 layers, C, B, and A. In each layer there are
a number of different activities and each is worth a
particular number of points. In each layer a certain
number of points must be completed
• In this unit you must complete activities worth 100
points. The assignments that are marked with an
asterisk are required assignments. They must be
completed in order to move on to the next layer or to
pass the C layer. You must complete at least 65 points,
but no more than 70 points in order to receive a C and
move on to the B layer. A MAXIMUM of 6 assignments
may be taken home as homework.
LAYER POINTS TO BE
COMPLETED
C 60
B 20
A 20
GRADE REQUIRED
MARKS
A 86+
B 71-85
C 56-70
D 40-55
3

4. ACTIVITIES
C LAYER – 60 points
*means it is a compulsory activity
1. Listen to ‘teacher talks’ about what is history, why we need
to study it and how we study it. There will be 5 talks and
from each talk you must produce at least 2 important points.
Topics are:
- What is history?
- Why do we study history?
- How do we study history?
- What are sources?
- How do we use sources in history? 10 POINTS*
2. Terminology quiz – how well do you know what the words
mean that we often use in history? Complete the quiz to
find out. 5 POINTS
3. What is a timeline, what does it tell us and how do we make
one? Learn what a timeline is and construct a world history
timeline. 10 POINTS*
4. Create your own personal timeline. 5 POINTS*
5. Participate in the dictagloss activity about. 10 POINTS*
6. Close passage activity. Use your historical and general
knowledge to complete the passage. 10 POINTS
7. Source work. 10 POINTS*
8. Asking historical questions – analysing historical sources
using historical questions and peer reviewing. 10 POINTS
9. Fact v opinion – myths and legends. 10 POINTS
10. Graphic organiser – Tollund Man and the bog bodies. 10
POINTS
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5. • B LAYER – 20 points
• Significant people study. 10 POINTS
• Personal timeline extension. 10 POINTS
• Research Summary based on C layer work on
graphic organiser – activity 10. 10 POINTS
• Society study - looks at the Egyptian people,
complete a worksheet on the daily life,
housing, clothing food. 10 POINTS
• World Heritage studies – create a poster
about one World Heritage site and discuss
why it is important to preserve things such as
this. 10 POINTS
• A LAYER – 20 points
• The Rosetta Stone dispute – who should
own the Stone? Note making activity and
hieroglyphs. 20 POINTS
• Heinrich Schliemann radio interview. 20
POINTS
• Who built the pyramids – a debate based on
sources. 20 POINTS
5

6. 1
2
3
4
5
6
I will be completing the following 6 assignments at home
6

7. Student contract – Investigating History
Stage 4 Topic 1
• Name:
• Start date:
• Finish date:
My progress chart
LAYER ACTIVITY
NUMBER
POSSIBLE
POINTS FOR
ACTIVITY
ATTEMPTING
ACTIVITY?
( or X )
COMPLETE? DATE
COMPLETED
C 1 10 compulsory
C 2 5
C 3 10 compulsory
C 4 5 compulsory
C 5 10 compulsory
C 6 15
C 7 10 compulsory
C 8 10
C 9 10
C 10 10
B 11 10
B 12 10
B 13 10
B 14 10
B 15 10
A 16 20
A 17 20
A 18 20 7

8. I, ____________________________
will complete the assigned points
in each layer by the finish date
____/____/____.
Signed
___________________________
Print name
___________________________
8

9. DECADE
CENTURY
MILLENNIUM
ANNO DOMINI
OR AD
BC
ERA
AGE
9
In the year of the Lord
1000 years
A period of history
delimited by a start
event and an end event
A period of history
having some distinctive
feature
10 years
100 years
Before Christ
Pair up the historical term with the definition.
Some of the words above come from Latin, the language spoken by the Romans and used for
the written word for many years after
Clues: Deca means 10, Mille means 1000, Cent means 100, Anno comes from the word year,
Domini comes from the word meaning Lord.
DEFINITIONS OF TIME

10. _________________’S TIMELINE
• You are going to create a timeline for your life. Think back to the world history timeline we
did and what you need on a timeline. Here is what you need to do
1. But your date of birth in the box label ‘BORN’ and today’s date in the box label ‘TODAY’
2. Put a mark on the timeline below for every year of your life and label each mark with the
year and the age you were at the time
3. Think of at least one significant event that happened for every year of your life so far.
Significant events mean things like the birth of a brother or sister, when your family got a
new pet, when you lost your first tooth, things like that. Ask your parents for help with the
first few years if you cannot remember.
4. Draw some pictures if you can.
5. DON’T LOSE THIS SHEET, WE CAN USE IT FOR ANOTHER ACTIVITY
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BORN ___/___/___
TODAY
___/___/___

11. • DICTAGLOSS – WHAT IS HISTORY
• HOW?
• A short text is read to the class at normal pace. The
students should listen for meaning.
• The text is read again and as it is being read the
students should jot down key words and phrases.
• Working in small groups the students pool their words
and phrases and attempt to reconstruct the text from
their shared resources. Their version should contain
the main ideas of the text and approximate the
language choices of the passage.
• Each group of students produces their own
reconstructed version, aiming at grammatical accuracy
and textual cohesion but not at replicating the original
text.
• Each group reads their finished version to the class
and each text is analysed and compared and the
students should then refine their own texts in the light
of the shared scrutiny and discussion.
• POINTS TO REMEMBER
• It is helpful if the teacher is prepared for the last
phase (5) of the lesson by considering the most
important language features of the text (hence the
language analysis below) so that they can focus on
these with the students.
• Write any new or challenging language on the board
for scaffolding purposes.
• This activity should be used to consolidate (not
introduce) new knowledge.
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12. WHAT IS HISTORY – text to be read to class
• What is history? It sounds such a simple question doesn't it? But it can cause a lot of disagreement. Napoleon called it 'a myth' and Henry Ford called it 'bunk'!
Other people think it is much more important, believing, like the American historian David McCullough that "History is who we are and why we are the way we
are."
• Whatever they think about the usefulness of history most people will, however, agree that history is the study of the past. In fact, historians are a bit like
detectives - using evidence to find out what happened and why. This is not an easy job. You must be able to recognise evidence, decide how useful it is and
come to conclusions based on what you have found out.
• Chronology or putting things in the right order is very important in history. Can you imagine how confused you would be if you didn't know that the Romans
arrived in Britain before William the Conqueror or that Queen Victoria came to the throne after Queen Elizabeth I? This is why dates are so important to the
study of history. The most commonly used system of dating things in history is the one which we use every day that is based on the Gregorian Calendar.
• The Gregorian Calendar was named after Pope Gregory XIII who ordered its adoption in 1582. Under the Gregorian Calendar the year is divided into 365 (or 366
in a leap year) days which are then grouped into twelve months. The years are numbered according to the year in which Christ was believed to have been born.
The period before that is known as B.C. (short for Before Christ) and the years after are known as A.D (short Anno Domini, and meaning the Year of our Lord).
Now we refer to B.C. as B.C.E. which means Before Common Era and A.D. has become C.E. which means Common Era. This is because most scholars generally
believe that Christ was born some years before 1 A.D., and the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating. It also shows sensitivity to those
who use the same year numbering system as the one that originated with and is currently used by Christians, but who are not themselves Christian. What can
make this system confusing is that events in the B.C. era are dated in descending order, whilst those in the A.D. era happen in ascending order.
• Not all countries adopted the Gregorian Calendar immediately. Some countries objected because it was a Catholic invention. Britain (and her Empire) did not
adopt the calendar until 1752, Russia adopted it in 1918 and Greece waited until 1923!
• The other thing to remember about timelines in history is to be careful when talking about centuries. The century is always bigger than the actual date. For
example, the War of the Roses took place between 1455 and 1487 - this was in the fifteenth century, the Battle of Waterloo took place 1815 - this was in the
nineteenth century. One way of remembering it is to think about your birthday. When you are 12, you have been alive for 12 years and are now in your 13th
year.
• Sources are an historian’s most important tools in their investigation. Without sources it is impossible to try and piece together the past. An issue that
historians have today is anachronisms in sources. Anachronism means out of time or order, something that could not have been there at that particular time. If
you had a photograph of one of your grandparent's house when they were your age you would not expect to see a computer or DVD player would you? If you
did you might think the photograph had been altered or was fake. The computer or the DVD player would be an anachronism.
• Being able to spot anachronisms is important because it helps us test the reliability of a source. If a source seems unreliable then we probably shouldn't use it.
We also need to know about anachronisms so that we don't include them when we write about history.
• Now let’s look at some types of sources. What is the first thing you do when you want to find out about what happened in the past? Most people would
probably say that they would look in a book, ask a teacher or other expert or check it out on the internet. These are all excellent sources of information.
Resources like this can tell us not only historical facts but we can also use them to find out what other people think about what happened, in other words their
interpretation of history. This type of information is called a secondary source.
• Imagine you are a detective investigating a crime. What would you need to help you find out what happened? What would you be looking for when you visited
the scene of the crime? That's right - clues or evidence. Historians are no different. When they want to find out what happened in the past they need to look at
the evidence. We call evidence that was created at the time of the event, primary evidence. Lots of sources can be counted as primary sources or evidence -
letters, newspapers, maps, photographs, pictures, objects and film (just to name a few).
• Primary evidence can be broken down into four main categories: written sources, images, artefacts and oral testimony.
• If you asked people to give you example of a historical record or primary source, most would people would probably mention some kind of written source. They
might say official reports, files, court documents, financial papers, newspapers, old family papers or official files. All these written sources can be used by
historians to find out about the past. They might not have been created for that purpose but they are still very useful.
• Some examples of primary sources include an official document, entries from a diary, an inventory, extracts from a newspaper and a map. When you look at
the sources think about why they were made or created and how this differs from how we use them today.
• We also use images as primary sources. Every day we find things out by looking at different kinds of images. We look at photographs, cartoons, watch
television and look at the internet. Historians are no different. They can use different kinds of images from the past to find things out.
• As well as using books, documents, images and oral testimony, historians also use artefacts or objects to help them learn about the past. People have learnt a
lot about history by looking at things that archaeologists have found. We know things about the Iron Age, the Bronze Age, the Romans and Medieval history
that we wouldn't have known if we only had written evidence to look at. But using artefacts is not just useful for the study of ancient and medieval history,
artefacts can enliven any period of history.
• Oral testimony can be described as the oldest type of evidence. Before people started to write down or otherwise record their history, they passed information
from generation to generation through story-telling. It still goes on today. How do you know about the lives of your grandparents, your Mum, your Dad, other
family members? Probably because you have heard them talk about it to you or to other people. It's not hard to understand therefore why oral testimony is
such an important source of evidence.
• However, it hasn't always been recognised as being important. Lots of historians in the past thought it was unreliable and preferred to rely on written evidence.
They thought the story might have changed as it was passed down and that there was no way of checking whether what it revealed was true. This had lots of
unfortunate consequences. Written sources tend to record the details of important, rich or otherwise noticeable people rather than ordinary people so a lot of
information about the lives of people like you or me was lost.
• But oral history never went away completely. Even in the 18th and 19th centuries efforts were made to record the thoughts and beliefs of all kinds of people on
all kinds of subjects. A lot of these testimonies have survived albeit in written form. Think about the evidence found in Royal Commission reports to name just
one example. Oral history experienced a renaissance in the 20th century when the whole business was made much easier by the invention of the telephone and
recording equipment. Interviewing people had never been easier and their thoughts could be recorded for posterity.
• So, how useful is oral testimony to historians today? The answer is simple - very! If we are careful about using it and treat it like any other kind of evidence we
can find out a lot about the past. Oral testimony can tell us what life was like in the past, what people thought about various subjects, even how people talked.
• Now that you have found about the different kinds of evidence that historians use, move on to the next section to find out about bias.
• Are you biased? It's not a trick question. Practically everyone is biased in some way. If you support the Rabbitohs you are probably biased against the Roosters,
if you support the Bulldogs you are probably biased against the Eels. You can show bias when talking about different bands, books, television programmes,
politics, even the weather.
• So what does it mean? Basically, bias means having an unfair or unbalanced opinion. Since history is a subject where people express their opinions it means that
we have to be very careful to watch out for bias.
• This doesn't mean that we shouldn't use this source - just that we should be careful.
• It is also important to recognise that bias is not found just in secondary sources, primary sources can also be biased. People naturally show their feelings on a
subject whenever they put pen to paper. Recognising bias can be hard but it helps if you ask yourself the following questions:
- who wrote the source?
- who were they writing for, in other words who was their audience?
- why were they writing the source?
- when did they write the source?
• Bias is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it can be very useful as it lets us find out about what people believed or thought about a particular subject. What
historians need to do is to try and find evidence from lots of different sources so that they can form a balanced opinion themselves.
• - why were they writing the source?
- when did they write the source?
• Bias is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it can be very useful as it lets us find out about what people believed or thought about a particular
subject. What historians need to do is to try and find evidence from lots of different sources so that they can form a balanced opinion
themselves.
12

13. CLOZE PASSAGE
• Fill in the gaps in the paragraph with the words in the box at the bottom of the
page
• A _____________source is a term used to describe source material that is closest to
the person, information, period, or idea being studied. In the study of
_____________ a primary source (also called original source or evidence) is an
artifact, a _______________, a recording, or other source of information that was
created at the time under study. If created by a human source, then a source with
direct personal knowledge of the events being described. It serves as an
_____________ source of information about the topic. History is based on primary
sources, as evaluated by the community of scholars, who report their findings in
books, articles and papers. Arthur Marwick says "Primary sources are absolutely
fundamental to history." Ideally, a historian will use all available primary sources
_____________ by the people involved, at the time being studied. In practice some
sources have been _________________, while others are not available for research.
Perhaps the only eyewitness reports of an event may be memoirs, autobiographies,
or __________interviews taken years later. Sometimes the only documents relating
to an event or person in the distant past were written ________________ or
centuries later. This is a common problem in classical studies, where sometimes
only a summary of a book has ________________. Potential difficulties with
primary sources have the result that history is usually taught in schools using
_________________ sources. The following questions are asked about primary
sources:
• What is the tone?
• Who is the intended _________________?
• What is the purpose of the publication?
• What ___________________ does the author make?
• What are the bases of the author's _________________?
• Does the author agree or disagree with other authors of the subject?
• Does the content agree with what you know or have learned about the issue?
• _____________ was the source made?
• A secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses
information __________________ presented elsewhere. A secondary
______________ with a primary source. Secondary sources involve generalization,
________________, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of the original
information. Secondary sources in history and humanities are usually
___________________, magazine, academic journal, or other written accounts
from the ____________________ of a different person than the person who
experienced the event.
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created
oral
Where
history
primary
contrasts
decades
secondary
assumptions
originally
destroyed
audience
document
newspaper
perspective
conclusions
original
analysis
survived

14. SOURCES
We know what a primary source is and what a secondary source is. Use your knowledge to identify which of the
following sources is primary or secondary and describe why you think this is so.
14
Source Description of source Primary or secondary?
Why?
Ancient oil lamps.
Extract from The War History of the 18th Battalion
Durham Light Infantry by W D Lowe, 1923.
Extracts from a diary written by J Theodore West
between 1853 and 1866.
Extract from 18DLI War Diary Appendix C May 1917.
Cartoon entitled 'Amputation' by Thomas
Rowlandson, dated 1785.
Photograph showing men at work in Saddler Street,
Durham, 1923.
Map showing the results of the Agricultural Survey
for Durham, 1810.

15. 15
Graphic Organiser
My Research Notes about ___________________________________________________________________
Choose three things you would like to know about Tollund Man and research for the answers using three
different sources
Name
Date
Research Question 1 Research Question 2 Research Question 3
Research Source 1
Research Source 2
Research Source 3

16. SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE IN HISTORY
• In every period of history there are people who left a mark and today we
still know their names, Tutankhamun, Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, Marie
Antoinette, the list goes on.
• In this activity you are going to use your world history timeline that we
created in the C layer to choose a period of history to look at.
• In this period of history you will find one significant person and answer the
following questions using the approved websites below.
• Consult your teacher once you have chosen your significant person to make
sure it is an appropriate choice.
•
• Questions – fill in the name of your significant person in the gaps
• Who is the significant person you have chosen?
• What period of history did _________________________ come from?
• Where in the world did _________________________come from?
• What are some memorable things ______________________________did?
• Pick one particularly memorable thing, why did
_________________________ do this?
• What impact did this thing have on ________________________’s society
at the time?
• Did this impact extend to future generations?
• Why do you think we remember _________________________ today?
• Why do you think you are only to use certain websites? What sort of issues
come up with internet research?
•
• Websites to use
• The BBC www.bbc.co.uk/history
• Who2? www.who2.com and direct links from this site are OK too
• The Historical Figures of George Stuart www.galleryhistoricalfigures.com
16

17. PERSONAL TIMELINE EXTENSION
Using the timeline of your life that you did in C layer and using internet research, find one
significant world event for each year of your life and create a new timeline below. Make sure
you make a note of ALL websites you use as a source in the space provided. You must include
the following information
• Date
• Significant event
• Why it is important
• Lasting effects on the world
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BORN ___/___/___
TODAY
___/___/___
Websites I used as sources:

18. RESEARCH SUMMARY
With the help of your graphic organizer, write a report that summarises what you
already knew about Tollund Man and bog bodies and what you learnt through
your research. This cannot be done in point form or copied straight from a text. A
summary is written in your own words. For each of your answered questions you
must use a different text and record the title, the author, and the page number.
• What I already knew about Tollund Man and bog bodies
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
• Question 1
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
• Source - ___________________________________________________________
• Question 2
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
• Source -___________________________________________________________
• Question 3
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
• Source - ___________________________________________________________
18

19. EGYPTIAN SOCIETY AND ITS PEOPLE
Using the information sheet “Daily Life in Egypt”, use the information to create a cartoon of the day in
the life of an ancient Egyptian. Include information about:
• Food
• Clothing
• Shelter
• Work
• Transportation
• Recreation
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By __________________________

20. WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and
what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and
natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and
inspiration. Places as unique and diverse as the wilds of
East Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great
Barrier Reef in Australia and the Baroque cathedrals of Latin
America make up our world’s heritage.
What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its
universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the
peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which
they are located.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the
identification, protection and preservation of cultural and
natural heritage around the world considered to be of
outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an
international treaty called the Convention concerning the
Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,
adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
Your job is to create a poster to present
to a group of sceptics. The group
that you will be speaking to believe
that these World Heritage sites do
not need to be preserved and you
need to convince them otherwise.
For your presentation you need to
create a poster with the
information on it. The information
you need is:
• The name of the World Heritage
site
• A world map and the location of the
site clearly marked
• A detailed description of the site
and a picture to illustrate (100
words)
• A clear explanation of the
importance of the site to mankind
(200 words)
• A persuasive argument as to why it
should be a World Heritage site
(200 words)
• Use the website
http://whc.unesco.org/ to begin
your search
There are three pictures on this page
and each is a World Heritage site,
can you name any?
20

21. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
WATCH THE VIDEO: EGYPT’S CURSE
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080129-rosetta-video-tw.html
21
controversy?
Who is it between?
a)
b)
What are their arguments?
a)
b)
What is the controversy?

22. Hieroglyphics
22
Can you write your name in hieroglyphics?
Can you write a message in hieroglyphics for someone else to decode?
A B C D F
G H I & E J K
L M N O P
Q R S T U
V W X Y Z

23. Heinrich Schliemann and Troy
This activity needs to be done in pairs.
The year is 1873 and the world has just heard that the famous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann
has discovered the city of Troy that Homer wrote of in his work The Iliad. Many people are
saying that his claims are false. One of you is an investigative reporter for a radio station and
your boss has asked you to investigate the claims made by Schliemann in preparation for an
interview with the man himself. The other person in the pair in Heinrich Schliemann himself
and is prepared to do the radio interview to prove his critics wrong.
• Your task in this activity is to each prepare for the interview which will be done in front of the
class.
The reporter must prepare a list of questions about
• Schliemann’s life
• His work prior to his discovery of Troy
• What he found at Troy
• The theories that exist about Schliemann’s work other than what he claims
• What he says about the evidence to support these other theories
Heinrich Schliemann must prepare to answer questions about
• His life – birth, childhood, marriages, children, etc.
• His work prior to his discovery of Troy
• What he found at Troy
• The theories that exist about Schliemann’s work other than what he claims
• What he says about the evidence to support these other theories
To begin this assignment
• Gather your sources. Visit www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/literature/iliad.htm to find
out the story of the Iliad.
• Visit www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/HeinrichSchliemann.html. From this site get information
about Schliemann’s life, where he was born, his family, his early work and how he died.
• These two sites should get you started and it will be your own research from there.
Remember when using the internet to gather sources you must be careful about where you
get it from, it may not necessarily be correct. HINT – if you find some information in one spot,
see if you can find it on another site to verify it.
• Once you have gathered some information you need to come up with a list of questions that
will be asked during the interview and a list of answers to the questions
• Once you have your list of questions you need to write a script for the interview. You don’t
need to memorise the script, you can use palm cards during the interview
• It is advisable to practice your interview before it is time to do it in front of the class.
HAPPY RESEARCHING
Extra question – who is the woman in the picture and what is she wearing?
23

24. WHO BUILT THE PYRAMIDS?
• Was it aliens or was it men, people have argued both for many years now. In this
activity you will need groups of 3.
• One person is the host of a special interest TV show and today’s episode is
devoted to the topic of debating who the true builders of the pyramids at Giza
are.
• The host of the show must
• Come up with a list of questions to ask his/her 2 guests – a firm believer that man
alone built the pyramids and a true believer that aliens were wholly responsible
for these enormous structures.
• There should be at least 3 questions for each guest
• Keep order during the interview and make sure the guests stay on their best
behaviour – who knows what could happen!
• The guest who believes man built the pyramids must
• Explain this theory
• Have evidence to support this theory – based on primary and secondary sources
• The guest who believes aliens built the pyramids must
• Explain this theory
• Have evidence to support this theory – based on primary and secondary sources
• As a group you must
• Write a script for the TV show
• Practice it before you must perform it in front of the class
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