Mary Anning Lessons and Resources
Explore the discoveries and legacy of Mary Anning
Discover how Mary Anning became an expert fossil hunter at Lyme Regis. Pupils investigate her remarkable discoveries, the people who helped her, the evidence for her life and why her achievements deserve to be remembered.
Explore teaching resources
Everything for this history topic in one place
The enquiry sequence
Six key questions to develop pupils’ historical understanding
6 lessons
Mary Anning end of unit quiz – KS1
We’ve been learning all about Mary Anning, the amazing fossil hunter who found prehistoric marine reptiles, including ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs by the seaside. Now it’s time to see what you…
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Mary Anning – assessment task
Focus: Significance This simple-to-administer, uncomplicated task uses a contemporary image to stimulate pupils to think about Mary Anning’s long-term significance. The accompanying markscheme can be used to align pupils’ responses…
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Mary Anning knowledge organiser – KS1
You are learning about Mary Anning because she became very famous at a very young age. She was an expert fossil hunter. At a time when most scientists studying fossils…
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Mary Anning – KQ1 – Why do we remember Mary Anning?
This introductory session attempts to place Mary’s life in a broader context of time and place and to whet pupils’ appetite, without telling much of the story of her life….
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Mary Anning – KQ2 – What did Mary do in her life that was so special?
Pupils move from the sequencing of the major events of Mary’s life to a more sophisticated understanding of which of these events were the most significant. By creating a fortunes…
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Mary Anning – KQ3 – What sort of person was Mary that helped her to succeed in a man’s world?
This a much shorter enquiry than the others, and comprises just three short activities Step 1 Having recapped the story of Mary’s life, ask pupils to work in small groups…
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Mary Anning – KQ4 – Which other people were important in Mary’s life and why?
This activity is an interesting way of getting pupils to think about Mary’s life but in a non-narrative way. Instead of re-telling the story in sequence they have to look…
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Mary Anning – KQ5 – How do we know about Mary’s actions which happened so long ago?
The main activity in this session is called Prove it! A number of pieces of evidence from Mary’s time are placed around the room, as if it were an art…
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Mary Anning – KQ6 – How and why should Mary Anning be remembered? Have your say.
In Lyme Regis they are going to improve their museum dedicated to Mary Anning. It will cost a lot of money and the Council are not sure she deserves all…
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.