Teaching GCSE History: Crime and Punishment

It is pleasing to see that this topic has been included as a thematic study in the 2016 GCSE course by some exam boards, at least. The outstanding lessons here mostly relate to the old SHP courses but will be up-dated to include more recent studies. Not only are local sources put to good effect, there is also a wide range of imaginative approaches reflecting different learning styles. So if you want to test hypotheses about transportation, have a fun kinaesthetic lesson on highwaymen or an Ian Dawson-inspired overview then you’ll find plenty to stimulate your interest.

Outstanding Lessons

New evidence of Anglo-Saxon mutilations as punishment

Ninth-century England was a bad place to be a criminal, new findings suggest. The skull of an Anglo-Saxon teenager discovered in Hampshire shows that she had her nose and upper lip cut off and may have been scalped too.Written evidence of the 10th and 11th centuries...

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Transportation; what questions can we raise and answer from the statistics?

This is the first of two lessons on transportation and owes its genesis to an idea from Richard McFahn when an Advanced Skills Teacher for history in Hampshire. It starts by revealing clues connected with the topic, one by one, to arouse students' curiosity. They...

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Teaching Crime and Punishment

I am sure you all know of the excellent websites out there to help you, but I would particularly recommend the Durham University Library, The British Library, and the National Archives . The Learning Curve section of the National Archives site is probably well-known to...

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If the Bloody Code made so many offences punishable by death, why were so few criminals hanged? SMART TASK

Fun lesson in which small groups have to predict punishments meted out for specific crimes in 1786 using original documents and then see if they were correct. They then try to work out why so few executions took place, prioritising their ideas with support to...

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Teaching the new GCSE thematically: 10 approaches that really work

Now that all schools have to teach a thematic study I thought I’d share my experience of observing hundreds of GCSE SHP lessons over almost 20 years. I have distilled them down to just my top ten. They don’t claim to be unique ideas; they...

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Why was the Metropolitan Police Force set up in 1829? Smart Tasks

This activity forms the central spine of a lesson on the reasons for setting up the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829.  Students work in pairs to come up with a satisfying explanation.  Rather than use the textbook directly, they are given a set of...

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Crime and Punishment starter: Smuggling – SMART TASK

This simple smart task uses the rather unusual source of a famous Kipling poem to ascertain what students already know about smuggling and what they need to know. The lesson starts with you quickly reading the poem aloud to help with motivation and encourage the lower-attaining...

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Poaching: Need or Greed? A 3 minute starter SMART TASK KS4

Throughout history, people have had different views of poachers. Were they: a. Starving labourers, snaring game to keep body and soul together, OR b. Members of gangs targeting places such as deer parks in order to sell on what they caught? Pupils are give just a couple of minutes to...

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GCSE SHP Crime and Punishment: How and why did Victorian prisons change in the first half of Victoria’s reign

Webquest leading to a brief filmed presentation Introduction: The Chief Examiner’s report for OCR June 2008 examination made the following point: “A number of reports have identified 19C  prison reform as an area of difficulty, because : a. there was no clear pattern b. it was seemingly contradictory”. For...

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Would you have liked to have been a highwayman? Why would you have stopped?

In this lesson students have to persuade others to become a highwayman and then have to work out why they would have stopped. It is highly active, involving students in card sorting classification, and prioritization activities. I would like to acknowledge that the inspiration the...

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Posting punishments in periods: an active approach to creating overviews in crime and punishment

This lesson draws on, and extends, an idea developed by Ian Dawson at Trinity and All Saints College. Students work in groups to post punishment cards in the right period, with able students acting as gate keepers. Working against the clock gives the lesson a...

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How effective was the Metropolitan police force and how would we find out?

This enquiry-led activity focuses on students considering the possible evidence base, as well as knowing how to evaluate existing evidence intelligently.  It starts with a humorous cartoon which is slowly-revealed and carefully analysed.  Its value as evidence for the enquiry is then scrutinised.  This sets...

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Were medieval crimes and punishments as brutal as people think? Two smart tasks

First students work collaboratively to distil from 16 pieces of evidence provided, the ones they think give them the most significant information they need to work into a 6 sentence summary of the arguments. In the second task students again work in teams to sort...

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GCSE SHP Crime and Punishment: The Metropolitan police force in 1830: SMART TASK

This quick starter uses the slow reveal technique which encourages students to explore parts of a cartoon in a particular sequence, before revealing the whole. Using the animated PowerPoint presentation of a British Museum cartoon, students have to consider the significance of each part of...

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