Teaching Resources

Connections Topics

History Key Stage 2 – Britain since 1930

  • A study of the impact of the Second World War or on the lives of men, women and children from different sections of society. (11b)

Equipment
To make best use of this site in your classroom you will need:

  • LCD data projector with whiteboard, or enough computers for children to work in small groups
  • Speakers or headphones
  • Writing and drawing materials
  • If wishing to use the activity without computers, you will need to print out the images you wish to use and their corresponding clues

Objective
Connections encourages children to look use observation, knowledge and imagination to link ideas seen in sets of historical images. It is a very useful precursor to your general WW2 work and will encourage children to look at wide variety of images or artefacts.

Time Required
One full lesson

Suggested Classroom Activities
We recommend that you show the PowerPoint Presentation which contains all images from the game. You can print these out in advance with their related textual clues.

Children can choose two or more images to ‘connect’ – for example: a wedding party, gas masks and an egg-collecting bucket. Depending on their prior knowledge of WW2 you will find lots of different ideas thrown up all of which will be useful in triggering a discussion about the impact of WW2 on people.

When we tested this game with a group of Yr 5 pupils the group decided the most likely connection was that the wedding party was under attack and had to go to the air raid shelter, put on their gas masks and wait. They got hungry and so had to find some eggs; hence the egg bucket.

In another connection-style game, children looked at an image of a child’s dress, and then the clothing ration book – whilst the connection seemed obvious at first, the teacher questioning made them realise the difficulty people had in making and selling clothes in a war situation. This could have led to an exploration of war impacts today.

By breaking the class up into small groups, discussion and questioning can be greatly encouraged. G&T students can be stretched by using the internet to search for more detailed background information, source similar images and artefacts or track down oral histories which could add to the class’s work.
All clues are replicated by the spoken word for children who have difficulty in reading on-screen text or prefer the auditory experience.

Extension Activities
Connections can quickly lead into role play or drama. An entire class lesson could be constructed around just one connection. Taking the example above, the teacher planned to build a mock air-raid shelter in the class, asking children to bring in clothes and objects they might want to keep safe – and then use that experience to trigger a deeper understanding of the impact of war on ordinary lives.

Worksheet 3 will help children record observations.

Assessment
The worksheets included in this site can be used as part of your methodology for assessment of understanding, knowledge and skills. (note this section to be completed once teacher testing complete so we can incorporate teacher input)

History Key stage 3 – A world study after 1900

  • A study of WW2 and its impact on Britain, Europe and the wider world. (13)
  • A local history study

Equipment
To make best use of this site in your classroom you will need:

  • LCD data projector with whiteboard, or enough computers for children to work in small groups
  • Speakers or headphones
  • Writing and drawing materials
  • If wishing to use the activity without computers, you will need to print out the images you wish to use and their corresponding clues

Objective
Connections is an excellent activity to play during the research phase of a local history study. It encourages children to link different pieces of evidence together, make connections and communicate their conclusions in an interesting way.

Time Required
One full lesson in the computer suite, or during homework
One full class lesson

Suggested Classroom Activities
The activity can be played online or offline.

In its offline form, the images are printed out and placed in a large circle on the floor. Their accompanying clue text pages are also printed out and stapled to the back of the image.

Children break into small groups, sit by a chosen image and spend a few minutes observing and recording. They need to understand what the image was of, what the background was and why the image was saved for history.

Having done that, the children move round to the next image and repeat the exercise. They do this with each image in the series and should then be encouraged to find connections between different images in the series.

By breaking the class up into small groups, discussion and questioning can be greatly encouraged. G&T students can be stretched by using the internet to search for more detailed background information, source similar images and artefacts or track down oral histories which could add to the class’s work.
If you are working on a local history project, you can usefully add in some images and text yourself, encouraging children to understand the impact of war on the wider community.

All clues are replicated by the spoken word for children who have difficulty in reading on-screen text or prefer the auditory experience.

Extension Activities
Drama, media production and ICT activities can all grow out of this project. The central idea of finding hidden connections between different images, or records, is one that can be explored at different levels.

Gifted and talented children will be able to dig far deeper when searching the evidence, whilst SEN children can gain from a top level experience. TALK TO TW once teacher testing completed

Worksheet 3 will help children record observations.

Assessment
The worksheets included in this site can be used as part of your methodology for assessment of understanding, knowledge and skills. (note this section to be completed once teacher testing complete so we can incorporate teacher input)

WORD Worksheets
Worksheet 3: Connections Worksheet KS2: A simple template where pupils can paste in the images they wish to ‘connect’, and give reasons for doing so

Worksheet 3 (KS2): Connections – Connect the photos

In each of the boxes paste a photo from the Connections website. Draw a line to show which people or items can be connected. Along the line write the reason why. We have completed one for you.

Photo of mother Photo of ration book Connections