This thinking skills task has been designed to encourage pupils to work out plausible answers to the puzzling question, one which has until recently found no consensus of convincing explanation among Egyptologists. This only adds to the authenticity of the task and really motivates the pupils.
Ask them to start to think of possible answers themselves, no matter how ‘left field’. Don’t let this run too long but it’s always a good idea to see where pupils’ thinking is at the start of the task.
Now for the main guts of the task. On the PowerPoint slide 4 there are 4 possible options for the pupils to consider. Only one is probably right-as of May 2024! Give pupils time to consider all the options in groups of four encouraging them to think of the strengths and possible weaknesses of each explanation. Its important to do this as many groups will simply rush to select one and then do nothing more, confident that they’ve found the ‘right one’. Stress that you will expect them to explain why 3 were rejected as well ass one chosen.
Go through the 4 in order before revealing the answer – option. C. To convince pupils
