Upper Key Stage 2 Stone Age to Iron Age Britain
From hunter-gatherers to farmers

Learn about the course of events that might have led Stone-Age people to move from hunting and gathering to farming. Demonstrate your knowledge to other children through performance and an informative display.

Session 1 Introduction to the Mesolithic

Objectives

History

  • Develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British history.
  • Address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Design and Technology

  • Use research to inform the design of functional products that are fit for purpose.

Lesson Planning

Research the fascinating Mesolithic hunter-gatherer way of life.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To generate questions and hypotheses about what people hunted and gathered in the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.
  • To understand the materials that would have been available for Mesolithic people to build with.

Children will:

  • Locate the Mesolithic and Neolithic on a timeline.
  • Generate questions about historical periods.
  • List some of the materials and technologies people had available in the Mesolithic.

You Will Need

  • Laptops and headphones to watch the video of Pat Hadley
  • Printed posters of 10 things you should know about the Mesolithic (from weblinks)

Session 2 Focus on Star Carr

Objectives

History

  • Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age – Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
  • Address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Design and Technology

  • Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, and prototypes.

English

  • Participate in role play.

Lesson Planning

Focus on the Mesolithic settlement Star Carr; design a model and role-play a day in the life of the Star Carr people.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To generate questions and hypotheses about what life was like at Star Carr and carry out research to find this out.
  • To design a model of Star Carr.
  • To role-play a day in the life of Star Carr.

Children will:

  • Generate questions about Star Carr.
  • Find out some answers to their research questions about Star Carr.
  • Apply their research through role-play.
  • Develop a design plan for how to make a model Mesolithic house.

You Will Need

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Session 3 Origins of agriculture

Objectives

History

  • Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age – Neolithic farmers.
  • Address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Design and Technology

  • Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

English

  • Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas.

Lesson Planning

Learn about the origins of agriculture and its spread to Britain.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To research the changes that agriculture caused in the way people lived.
  • To know key differences between the technology and materials of farmers and hunter-gatherers.
  • To speculate about which was the harder way of life, hunting and gathering or farming.

Children will:

  • Generate questions to frame historical research.
  • Undertake historical research.
  • Use their research to back up an opinion on the comparison between two periods .

You Will Need

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Session 4 Focus on Skara Brae

Objectives

History

  • Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age – Neolithic settlement at Skara Brae.
  • Address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Design and Technology

  • Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes.

English

  • Participate in role-play.

Lesson Planning

Research the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae; design a model and role-play a day in the life of the people.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To create questions and hypotheses about Skara Brae and research the answers.
  • To design a model of Skara Brae.
  • To role-play a day in the life of Skara Brae.

Children will:

  • Generate questions about Skara Brae.
  • Do some research to answer some of those questions.
  • Apply their research through role-play.
  • Develop a design plan for how to make a model Neolithic house.

Provided Resources

  • Blank Bloom's taxonomy pyramid (question pyramid)
  • Diagram of Skara Brae

You Will Need

  • Laptops with internet access

Session 5 Design and build Star Carr or Skara Brae

Objectives

Design and Technology

  • Develop design criteria.
  • Select from and use a wide range of materials.
  • Build structures
  • Evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.

English

  • Participate in discussion.

Lesson Planning

Build and evaluate a model of either Star Carr or Skara Brae.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To create success criteria for a model of Skara Brae and evaluate the model.
  • To discuss the success of the models of Skara Brae.

Children will:

  • Develop success criteria to rate a project.
  • Select the appropriate materials for the project and use a range of building techniques.
  • Evaluate their own and other's work based on success criteria.

You Will Need

  • Selection of materials to use: sticks of varying widths and lengths, straw, dry grass, pieces of leatherette, string, air-drying clay made into squared stone blocks as well as fresh clay.

Session 6 Hunter-gatherers to farmers display

Objectives

History

  • Construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information.

English

  • Participate in performances, role play, and improvisations.

Lesson Planning

Make an informative display of your models for other children; role-play the course of events that might have led to hunter-gatherers taking up farming.

Teaching Outcomes:

  • To create a display of the models with written labels.
  • To imagine and role-play the course of events that might have lead hunter-gatherers to take up farming.

Children will:

  • Write a label for their model explaining their design and build decisions.
  • Explore through role-play why people took up farming.
  • Explore through discussion the implications of taking up farming.

You Will Need

  • Tablets or video cameras

Weblinks

There are no weblinks needed for this session.