Amelia Earhart Lessons and Resources at KS1
A study of Amelia not only fits within the requirement to compare significant people linked by theme (here it is flight) over time, it also provides a great opportunity to look at a successful female pioneer working in a male dominated world.
In 1930s America Amelia enjoyed rock-star status for her ground-breaking and daring flights, and was a role model for all ambitious young girls. Not only was she a pilot who set numerous flying records, she also worked as a mechanic, not to mention her skill as a writer. Its likely that you will want to look at Amelia’s achievements alongside the Wright brothers (and possibly comparing with Amy Johnson too) showing how aviation rapidly developed in the 20th century. You may even want to go further and include space travel and moon exploration.
The key disciplinary concepts we are looking to explore here are those linked with motivation and an understanding of significance, alongside strengthening pupils’ chronological understanding.
Amelia Earhart Scheme of Work, Knowledge Organiser, Assessment & Quiz
| All Amelia Earhart Key Questions | Historical focus |
|---|---|
| KQ1 – Why do we think that Amelia was famous? | Significance and historical enquiry |
| KQ2 – What were the main events in Amelia’s life that shaped her? | Chronology, sequencing and character |
| KQ3 – Why was Amelia so keen to fly when so few women at the time were interested? | Motivation and historical context |
| KQ4 – What were the main ups and downs in Amelia’s life? | Chronology, change and consequence |
| KQ5 – How do we know so much about Amelia’s life when she lived so long ago? | Historical evidence and sources |
| KQ6 – What was Amelia’s greatest achievement and how should it be remembered? | Significance and commemoration |
Amelia Earhart – assessment task
Disciplinary concept target: Significance Pupils draw on the 4 clues to underline why Amelia Earhart is seen as an important figure in history. They go beyond her as a daring…
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Amelia Earhart end of unit quiz – KS1
You’ve learned all about the amazing Amelia Earhart — the brave pilot who loved to explore the skies and follow her dreams. Now it’s time to see what you remember!…
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Amelia Earhart knowledge organiser – KS1
You are learning about Amelia because she was a very famous American woman who learned how to fly and then broke lots of records for how fast high and long…
Read MoreAmelia Earhart – KQ1 – Why do we think that Amelia was famous?
This introductory session starts with firing pupils’ curiosity via a slow reveal in which pupils build a picture of her by means of a series of clues introduced in a…
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Amelia Earhart – KQ2 – What were the main events in Amelia’s life that shaped her ?
Having listened to an illustrated description of Amelia’s early life, pupils have to select suitable adjectives to describe her character using the odd-one-out options on the PowerPoint presentation to check…
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Amelia Earhart – KQ3 – Why was Amelia so keen to fly when so few women at the time were interested?
A relatively short session exploring Amelia’s motivation starts with pupils drawing on their prior knowledge to consider why she took such risks, followed by an analysis of a few simply…
Read MoreAmelia Earhart – KQ4 – What were the main ups and downs in Amelia’s life?
Using the living graph technique pupils sequence the events of Amelia’s flying career and then physically create points on a graph by deciding which events were good ones for Amelia…
Read MoreAmelia Earhart – KQ5 – How do we know so much about Amelia’s life when she lived so long ago?
In this session pupils get to work as history detectives matching clues within sources to statements historians have made about Amelia. Using the active ‘prove it’ strategy, pupils in pairs…
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Amelia Earhart – KQ6 – What was Amelia’s greatest achievement and how should it be remembered?
Working towards the end goal of producing a book cover to encapsulate the key details of Amelia’s achievements, pupils learn, through a few short preparatory tasks, to discriminate between what…
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.