Free KS3 history lessons and resources
Explore our free KS3 history resources and discover the enquiry-led approach that makes Key Stage History different. These free samples give teachers access to a selection of tried-and-tested history lessons, Smart Tasks, teaching ideas and planning guidance designed specifically for students in Years 7, 8 and 9.
You’ll find engaging classroom activities covering a wide range of KS3 history topics, including Medieval Britain, the British Empire, slavery and Black history, Victorian Britain, the First World War and the Civil Rights Movement. Each resource is designed to develop students’ historical knowledge and thinking through challenging enquiries, source analysis, interpretation and imaginative activities. Use these free KS3 history resources in your classroom and get a flavour of the much wider collection of lessons, Smart Tasks and teaching materials available to Key Stage History members.
Teaching KS3 History: Black Peoples of the Americas and slavery
The title of this section reflects the fact that the new curriculum should not any longer be boxed up into just six discrete silos called study units. Instead there should…
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Free at Last? How far had the Civil Rights Movement come by 1963?
How far have Afro-Americans come in their struggle for equality over the last 160 years? With many schools operating a 2-year Key Stage 3 curriculum, it is important to offer…
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How well do these cartoons cover the causes of World War One?
In pairs, Y9/GCSE students visit 9 different cartoons posted around the wall. They have to work out: a. Which cause is being ‘covered’ in each cartoon – sometimes two. b….
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Court of King Cholera: Where am I in the picture?
This activity works in two ways; it activates pupils’ prior knowledge in a fun way and raises questions about conditions at the time the chosen image, A Court for King…
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Puzzle corner 3: the strange case of the missing slave
Pupils will find that this example of a black slave, painted out of an eighteenth century painting of a tobacco lord’s family, makes an intriguing starter to any lesson on…
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Puzzle corner: The strange case of the steel helmet
A short intriguing starter activity for pupils presents them with a puzzle to solve. In the First World War, why did head injuries increase when the metal helmet replaced the…
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Expert Advice: Key Stage 3 and 4 – Using the 4 Bs
Using the 4 Bs to encourage independence You recognise the problem. No sooner have you set a piece of open-ended enquiry work with you initially as facilitator, than the hands…
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Fit for purpose teaching Strategies at Key Stage 3
Personalising learning by establishing what students already know about a topic, before beginning teaching. Case study: Comparing students’ initial perceptions with their end-of-study study views of the First World War…
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Battalion 101. Why did they shoot? A history mystery
This lesson could be used as part of a Year 9 course or with the Germany module of Y10/11 SHP or Modern World. Students are confronted with moral issues and…
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What can we learn about the Empire from a Christmas pudding?
This lesson starts with a simple fun activity, working competitively in teams to locate the source of ingredients for an Empire Christmas pudding using a world map to help. Pupils…
Read MoreWhat made runaway slaves successful?
This short enquiry enables pupils to come up with their own ideas about runaway slaves working from first hand evidence of adverts for the slaves ‘arrest’. They work in pairs…
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What can we learn about medieval churches from the outside and inside?
This innovative lesson uses the gallery strategy in which pupils compare a range of fascinating colour images to discover what Doom paintings have in common. After annotating and captioning different…
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Puzzle Corner 2: Analysing Victorian photographs: the puzzle of the Tredegar patch girls.
Beguilingly simple, but actually quite thought-provoking, this short smart task teaches pupils not to take things at face value – a key skill if they are to progress in history. …
Read MoreWritten by Neil Thompson
All content on Keystage history is written and quality assured by Neil Thompson, a former history teacher, county history adviser and Ofsted inspector with more than 30 years’ experience in history education.