Module 2: Investigating family history

Section 1: Investigating family histories

1. Working in groups to discuss families

When investigating the family, it is useful to first explore pupils’ understanding of what a family is and show them the diversity among families. Celebrating such diversity helps pupils feel better about themselves when they realise how different families can be. Case Study 1 and Activity 1 explore different ways to do this.

In the case study, the teacher encourages his pupils to work in small groups (see Key Resource: Using group work in your classroom) and to remember the rules that they have agreed for small-group discussions.

2. Modelling making a timeline

When studying past events, it is important to help pupils understand the passage of time and how things change from generation to generation.

Developing the ways that young pupils look at their family histories will help them link events together as well as put them in sequence. Resource 2: Another kinship chart provides a family tree that will help pupils see relationships between family members, e.g. their cousin is their mother’s or father’s sister’s or brother’s child.

3. Helping pupils explore their past

Helping pupils to develop their understanding of past and present takes time, and involves giving them a range of activities where they have to observe, ask questions and make judgements about what they find out.

How can they develop skills to help them think about how things change over time? Case Study 3 and the Key Activity use the wider environment to extend your pupils’ understanding of time passing and things changing.

Resource 1: Kinship chart

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

A kinship chart shows how each person is related or connected to the others and their family or community. Different cultures have different ways of describing relatives.

Below is a simple kinship chart for Rwanda.

Resource 2: Another kinship chart

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Resource 3: My timeline

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

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Section 2: Investigating how we used to live

1. Gathering oral histories

Teaching history does not only involve facts about historical events, but also the development of pupils’ historical skills. As a teacher, you need give your pupils the opportunity to develop and practise these skills. The kinds of events you explore with your pupils will depend on their ages. With younger children, you will also take more of a lead in helping them find out and understand what happened.

In this part, pupils will conduct oral interviews with an older family member or another member of the community. The aim of the interview is to find out how different their own lifestyles and interests are, compared with those of people in the past. By showing pupils how to conduct an oral interview, you can help develop important skills – being able to see the value of oral history and being able to listen. (Read Resource 1: Oral history now to find out more about this valuable resource.)

Case Study 1 shows how one teacher introduced her pupils to the idea of using oral history to find out about the past. Read this before trying Activity 1 with your class.

Activity 1: Oral interviews about childhood

First organise your pupils into pairs. Then tell them to think of some questions they can ask an older person about his/her childhood. Give the pupils time to think up their questions and tell them how long they have to do this task – maybe two or three days. If you have younger pupils, you could work together to make up three or four questions they could remember and ask at home.

When they have asked the questions at home, ask the pupils to share their information with their partners.

Then ask each pair of pupils to join with another pair and share what they have found out.

Now ask each group of four to complete a table to show how life has changed.

Discuss with the whole class how life has changed since their parents and/or grandparents or other older people were children. Pose questions that encourage them to reflect on why such changes have taken place. (Key Resource: Using questioning to promote thinking  can help you think of the kinds of questions you need to ask to stimulate pupils. You could note some of these down before the lesson to remind you at this stage.)

Make a list of the key changes on the board.

2. Investigating a historical event

As well as using oral histories to find out about life in the past, you can use written records with your pupils.

In this section, we look at how different sets of records can help pupils build up their understanding of the past. In Activity 2 and the Key Activity, pupils explore written records of past events and conduct oral interviews with community members. How you organise and gather resources together is part of your role and advice is given on how you might do this.

3. Thinking critically about evidence

This part is intended to extend your ideas of how to help pupils use oral history as a resource for finding out about the past. You will encourage them to think critically about the validity and reliability of such evidence, and to compare oral testimonies of a historical event with written evidence of the same event. Investigating the similarities and differences in the two types of evidence provides an exciting learning opportunity for pupils.

Resource 1: Oral history

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Introduction

We all have stories to tell, stories about our lives and special events that have taken place. We give our experiences an order and organise such memories into stories. These stories could, if collected together with other people’s memories of the same event, allow us to build up a clearer picture of what actually happened.

Your local community will be a rich source for exploring what happened at a particular event or what it was like to live there 20 years ago. Your pupils could investigate the Nigerian Civil or Biafran War or some other more local event.

What is oral history?

Oral history is not folklore, gossip, hearsay or rumour, but the real history of people told from their perspectives, as they remember it. It involves the systematic collection of living people’s stories of their own experiences. These everyday memories have historical importance. They help us understand what life is like. If we do not collect and preserve those memories, then one day they will disappear forever.

Your stories and the stories of the people around you are unique and can provide valuable information. Because we only live for so many years we can only go back one lifetime. This makes many historians anxious that they may lose valuable data and perspectives on events. Gathering these stories helps your pupils develop a sense of their own identities and how they fit into the story of their home area.

How do you collect people’s stories?

When you have decided what event or activity you want to find out about, you need to find people who were involved and ask if they are willing to tell you their stories. Contact them to arrange a time of day and tell them what you want to talk about and what you will do.

You need to record what your interviewee says. You can do this by taking notes by hand or possibly by tape recording or video recording. Having collected your information or evidence, it is important to compare and contrast different people’s views of the same event, so that you can identify the facts from the interpretations that different people put on the same event.You could ask your pupils, in groups, to interview different people and then to write a summary of their findings to share with the rest of the class. These could be made into a book about your class’s investigation into a particular event.

Taken from: http://www.dohistory.org

Resource 2: Possible interview questions

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Below are some questions to use with a visitor to find out about an event in the past or how they used to do things in the past. Areas you could explore include:

• growing food;
• traditional dress;
• traditional healing;
• building houses;
• education.

These three sets of starter questions will help you support your pupils in thinking of their own questions.

(1) Historical events

• What historical events took place when you were young?
• What did you wear when you went to a party or a wedding?
• Which event do you remember most?
• What do you remember about it?
• What happened? Tell me the story as you remember it.
• Who else was with you?
• Could I speak to them about this still?

(2) Games

• What games did you play when you were a child?
• How did you play these games?
• Who taught you to play these games?
• When did you play them?
• Where did you play them?
• What other activities did you enjoy?

(3) Growing food

• What vegetables and fruit did you grow?
• How did you grow them?
• Where did you grow them?
• What tools did you use?
• What did vegetables cost at the time?
• Where did you buy them? Which ones did you buy?
• What else did you eat that you liked?
• Do you still eat these foods?

Resource 3: World War I in Rwanda

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

World War I did not only take place in Europe but also in colonised countries of Africa and Asia. Rwanda, which was a German Protectorate from the end of the 19^th century, became a battlefield between Germans and Belgians. Belgium wished to stay neutral as it was in Europe since 1830 because it was not prepared to be engaged in a war. It feared to lose its prestige in Africa. Germany also feared to start fighting in Africa as most of its colonies were scattered colonies and therefore not easy to defend once encircled by enemies.

Causes of the conflict

The conflict was the result of serious tensions between European countries since the 19^th century. As some of these countries had colonies in Africa and Asia, the conflict extended there as well. The involvement of the Rwandan royal court in the war was due to a request from the Germans. Most combatants, called Indugaruga, came from Indengabaganizi and Iziruguru troops. Moreover, King Yuhi V Musinga had heard that the Belgians had confiscated a lot of cattle and was hoping to regain lost territory of Bufumbira, Rucuro, Bwishya and the whole IjwiIsland. Since the 19^th century, Belgium had been eager to have a territory from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It entered in the conflict to have a region to exchange at the end of the war, in order to have a large opening on the Atlantic Ocean.

Sequence of events

The beginning of hostilities was when a German officer from Kigoma came to the other border of TanganyikaLake to find out whether Belgian intentions related to war or peace. He was arrested and he interpreted this as a provocative reaction, which he reported when he escaped. Belgians troops did not attack immediately. It took a year of preparation, as some of them had gone to help Allies in other African countries.

When the Belgians attacked in December 1915, German forces were divided into three groups. The first one, commanded by Captain Wintgens, protected the northeast of KivuLake. The second, led by Major von Langen, had to defend RusiziRiver and had its branches at Usumbura, Kigoma and Ujiji. The last one, led by Captain Godovius, had to stop British troops from entering from Ugandan territory. These German troops had the advantage of mastery of the region.

The Belgian troops were commanded in the north by Colonel Molitor and fought face-to-face with Wintgens’ troops. In the south, there was Lieutenant-Colonel Olsen. Belgian troops attacked not only from Belgian Congo but also crossed through Ugandan territory to surprise the Germans in Kigali by 9 May 1916. This capture of Kigali made the situation serious for the Germans as Kigali was their focal point for communication. Wintgens left Bugoyi Region to avoid being encircled by Belgians and came to Nyanza, the royal capital. This was occupied by Belgian troops on 19 May 1916. The Germans had left two white flags raised at the palace in order not to be attacked by the Belgians. The Germans withdrew through the south of Rwanda and their departure surprised Rwandans in general and King Yuhi Musinga in particular. The king lost his collaborators and defenders of his regime against the rebellions in the northern regions of Rwanda.

Consequences of the war

During this crisis, Rwanda was affected by the Rumanura famine, which started in Bugoyi. During the war, troops stayed for a few years in this region and the population was obliged to offer its crops to German troops. It had also to work for them. As the region was the breadbasket of Rwanda, the greater part of the country was also affected. During this time, a lot of rain fell, further hampering food production and thereby increasing hunger. Nyundo Mission estimated that around 20,000 people had died out of the 100,000 people who lived there. Others left the region to escape from working for the German army. During their withdrawal, German troops destroyed the crops. As Belgian troops were many in number, large numbers of cows were slaughtered for meat. Some of the people recruited to carry Belgian luggage died due to tiredness and hunger.

Missionary activity had virtually ceased by the beginning of 1916. The peasants were mobilised for portage. At Rwaza, since the White Fathers could no longer pay teachers, the schools emptied. Many catechists continued working on half pay and numbers of children attending catechism fell from 119 to 82.

After the departure of the Germans, the Catholic stations again became the principal actors in the colonial system. The Belgian commanders could turn to no one but to the White Fathers for advice.After World War I, the Germans were replaced by the Belgians as the colonial masters of Rwanda. Belgium expected to stay in a good relationship with the Allies. This became complicated when Britain wanted to take Belgian-conquered territories. Belgium was not invited to influence directly the Versailles Treaty which ended World War I, but her Foreign Minister (Orts) and the British foreign minister (Milner) decided on the fate of Rwanda. The country lost its eastern part (Gisaka and Mubali) between 1919 and 1923, which was added to British territories.

The Belgian colonial period was characterised by change in Rwanda in political, economic, social and cultural domains.

Taken from: F.Nahimana: Le blanc est arrivé, le roi est parti. Une facette de l’histoire du Rwanda contemporain (1894-1931), Kigali, 1987.

B.Paternostre de la Mairieu: Le Rwanda. Son effort de développement, antécédents historiques et conquête de la révolution rwandaise, 2eme édition, Kigali, Editions Rwandaises, Bruxelles, Editions de Boeck, 1983.

Resource 4: The Ruzagayura famine – 1943-1944

Introduction

The Ruzagayura famine of 1943-44 was a major famine which occurred during the time when Rwanda was colonised by Belgium. It occurred during the Second World War and the affects were made worse by the attempts of the colonial authorities to send agricultural produce and livestock to the Belgian Congo, as part of the Allied war effort.

The famine began around October 1943 and ended in December 1944. It covered almost all of Rwanda, with the exception of the territory of Shangugu. This territory in the southwest of the country has a microclimate that protected it from the drought that was experienced elsewhere.

The drought caused considerable damage and suffering. Corpses littered the roads and countryside, and starving, emaciated people roamed the hills in search of food. People had to eat wild plants, the roots of banana trees or ferns, or fruits of acacias, none of which was very nutritious. To survive, some people exchanged their possessions for food. The famine led to a large number of deaths and a huge migration of people from Rwanda to neighbouring Belgian Congo and British Uganda.

Causes

The famine was caused by a number of factors, both natural and man-made:

• Successive periods of drought in September and October 1942, April and May 1943, and October 1943.
• During 1943 potatoes, sweet potatoes and beans were destroyed by fungus such as mildew and Rhizoctonia, and the bean seed fly.
• The war meant that crops and animals were required as food for the Belgian army in Congo, extra workers in the tin mines in the Congo, and British forces stationed in Uganda and Tanganyika. Food was therefore taken out of Rwanda, just when it was needed to feed the population.

Effects

There were more and more criticisms of the war effort from Rwandan civilians, the missionaries, local leaders and the King of Rwanda, Mutara III Rudahigwa. The Christian missionaries began to transport food to a supply point in Bujumbura, so it could be given to Rwandan civilians. The King of Rwanda also sent help to the affected region and eventually the colonial administration helped. People began protesting against the mandatory provision of food and livestock to mining companies.

Although people in the Congo and the Belgian Government, in exile in London, were aware of the famine and the devastating effects, the Belgian people were not. Belgium was occupied by the Germany Army at the time, and across Europe, the main focus was on trying to defeat Hitler.

Further Reading

Singiza, D. (2012) Ruzagayura, une famine au Rwanda au Coeur de Second Conflit mondial, IHOES [online]. Available at http://www.ihoes.be/ publications_en_ligne.php?action=lire&id=104&ordre=numero (Accessed 2008).

Wikipedia (2015) The Ruzagayura Famine [online] 17 November 2015. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Ruzagayura_famine (Accessed 2008).

Section 3: Using different forms of evidence in history

1. Thinking about the location of settlements

By looking at the local environment and the physical layout of the land, it is possible to think about why a community settled in a certain place.

Great Zimbabwe provides a good example. It is important that as a social studies teacher you understand a case like this, as it gives you the skills to relate these ideas to a number of different ancient African kingdoms and to your local setting. Using fieldwork, such as actual trips to a site, allows pupils to see for themselves why one place was chosen for settlement and why some developments survived longer than others.

Most settlements are where they are because the environment provides some kind of resource, such as water or trees, and/or the site provides protection from the elements and, in earlier times, from enemies. Villages and towns are often found near a stream or wood to provide water and wood for shelter and to burn for heat and cooking. By looking closely at your school’s local environment or your pupils’ home environment, whichever is easier, you can help them to begin to understand how settlements developed.

Maps from earlier times will show how a site has changed over time (this can build on the time walk activity from Module 2, Section 1).

2. Using mind maps to structure thinking about the past

In the past, cattle were always viewed as an important resource, and many farmers and communities still view cattle this way.

The purpose of Activity 2 is for pupils to investigate the traditional role of cattle in African societies using the local community as a source of information. They will then determine how much African farming societies have changed.

Case Study 2 and Activity 2 use mind mapping and a template to help pupils think about the task as they work together in groups to share ideas.

3. Fieldwork to investigate local history

One way to reconstruct how societies in the past lived is to analyse buildings, artefacts, sculptures and symbols found on sites from a long time ago.

In this part, pupils go on a field trip to a place of historical interest. If this is not realistic for your class, it is possible to do a similar kind of task in the classroom by using a range of documents, photographs and artefacts. Pupils can start to understand how to investigate these and fill in some of the gaps for themselves about what used to happen.

Resource 1: Great Zimbabwe

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Great Zimbabwe, or ‘houses of stone’, is the name given to hundreds of great stone ruins spread out over a 500 sq km (200 sq mi) area within the modern-day country of Zimbabwe, which itself is named after the ruins.

Maximise

The ruins can be broken down into three distinct architectural groups. They are known as the Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the famous Great Enclosure. Over 300 structures have been located so far in the Great Enclosure. The types of stone structures found on the site give an indication of the status of the citizenry. Structures that were more elaborate were built for the kings and situated further away from the centre of the city. It is thought that this was done in order to escape sleeping sickness.

What little evidence exists suggests that Great Zimbabwe also became a centre for trading, with artefacts suggesting that the city formed part of a trade network extending as far as China. Chinese pottery shards, coins from Arabia, glass beads and other non-local items have been excavated at Zimbabwe.

Nobody knows for sure why the site was eventually abandoned. Perhaps it was due to drought, perhaps due to disease or it simply could be that the decline in the gold trade forced the people who inhabited Great Zimbabwe to look elsewhere.

The ruins of Great Zimbabwe have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

More information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe

Resource 2: Pictorial map of Great Zimbabwe

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Maximise

1. Find Great Zimbabwe.
2. Find the Zimbabwe Plateau. Why do you think the founders of Great Zimbabwe decided to build the settlement on a plateau?
3. What natural resources were found in and around the region of Great Zimbabwe?
4. Why were these resources important?
5. What other environmental factors may have contributed to the people’s decision to settle on the Zimbabwe Plateau?

Taken from: Dyer, C., Nisbet, J., Friedman, M., Johannesson, B., Jacobs, M., Roberts, B. & Seleti, Y. (2005). Looking into the Past: Source-based History for Grade 10. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman.

Resource 3: A mind map about keeping cattle

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Resource 4: Cattle in traditional Rwandese society

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Cattle played a major role in Rwandese traditional life. Together with hoes, cattle were used in exchange for expensive tools.

Cow products

Rwandans who did not own cattle would work in exchange for milk and other milk products, such as butter. Milk was also exchanged for products such as honey or bracelets.

Cow hides were worn by old people while small pieces of horns were used to clean hides used to make clothes. The horns were also used by traditional medicinemen and in the making of pipes or ornaments. Some hair from the cattle tail was used in the making of jewelry to wear on arms and legs.

Cow dung was used not only as manure but also to cover some utensils, for example baskets.

How did one get a cow?

A person in Rwandese society had a number of ways of getting cows:

Impahano were cows bought for oneself. People got them from agricultural products or hoes made by ancient Rwandans exchanged for cattle. Many people got cows this way. Another way of getting a cow was to keep it for a friend. After this cow had produced a calf, the keeper benefited from its milk by sharing it with its original owner. The cow owner had the right to have the milk four times per week and the keeper two times. A good keeper had the chance to be given one cow.

When a cow owner had problems such as lack of food, or needing to arrange a child’s wedding ceremonies, and did not want to sell his cow, he could pawn it to a friend. The latter gave him goats or other small animals. Then, the cow owner had to pay after this cow produced a calf. This helped many people to have their own cows. Another means of obtaining a cow was to be a client of a cow owner. This was called ubuhake and this institution was mainly found in the centre, south and eastern parts of Rwanda. The people without cows had to perform some duties to the cow owner. The latter had to protect his clients against injustice. There were no fixed days to work in exchange for a cow in this manner. It could be after one month, two months or one year. If someone was not satisfied with his patron, he had the right to leave the patron and look for another one. Only the king of Rwanda was a client to nobody.

When a boy wanted to marry, he had to give dowry. This was a sign of love between two families. In most cases, people paid cows or hoes. Thus Rwandans got cows during the marriage ceremony. The boy’s family could later get another cow from the family-in-law. This was called indongoranyo.

Children could have cows from their parents as inheritance. When a parent took his children to their grandparents, the children could be given cows by their grandfather. These animals then belonged to the children. People also gave cows to their friends or used to get them from the battlefield as spoils. If someone lost his cows due to disease, he was given others by his friends or clients (inshumbushanyo). In the same way, when someone was dispossessed by his patron, he got cattle from his friends.

Cattle owners had a particular way of shaving their children in a style called igisage after weaning. At this time, the child got a cow. A child who buried his parent was to receive one cow called inkuracyobo. Lastly, a member of any family who accompanied a bride would get an animal like a goat or a cow.

What were the cattle owners’ lives like?

Ancient cattle owners in Rwanda engaged in some supplementary farming, along with animal breeding. Beans, sorghum and other grains were their main crops. Milk, drunk fresh and as buttermilk, was their staple food, and meat was not regularly consumed. The cattle were in general herded by the men, although the women helped with milking the cows. The women also made butter and cheese and some of them traded at the markets. Among ancient Rwandans, wealth was measured by the size of a family's herds.

Before the Belgian reform in the 1920s, every village had a chief of pastures. This person was obliged to collect all taxes related to cows, such as milk and hides, and send them to the royal palace. The king advisers’ – abiru – performed ceremonies in order to protect cattle against diseases.

Ankole

Also known as: Ankole Longhorn Varieties: Bahema, Bashi, Kigezi, Watusi The Ankole cattle are distributed from Lake Mobutu to Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa. The original animals were thought to have been brought to northern Uganda by Hamitic tribes sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries. The Ankole's susceptiblity to the tsetse fly forced the tribes and their cattle further south. The Hima or Bahima tribe settled on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzani. The Watusi or Tutsi tribe continued to Rwanda and Burundi with their cattle, some of which have spread to the lake districts of Zaire. Selection in all the tribes is based on horn size.

The purer Ankole cattle have a medium-long head, a short neck with a deep dewlap and a narrow chest. The hump is cervico-thoracic, small and barely visible on the cow. Although the small-uddered Ankole cows yield meagre amounts of milk, milking is an important ritual in some tribes. Bloodletting is a common practice. A few tribes use the cattle for work; none use them for meat. In general, the animals are highly prized as status symbols, for ceremonial functions and not for their productivity.

There are three main strains of this breed:

	1. Bahema strain: found in Northern Kivu, near Edward and AminLakes. 2. Bashi strain: found in Southern Kivu, around Lake Kivu. 3. Tutsi strain: found in Burundi, near the northern part of TanganikaLake. The Kigezi strain reported by Mason (1995) is less common.

The size of horns are smaller in the Bahema and the largest horns are found in the Tutsi strain. The color of the Ankole varies but the Tutsi strain is predominately red.

References

Dr Alberto Zorloni, Ethiopia

Genus Bos: Cattle Breeds of the World, 1985, MSO-AGVET (Merck & Co., Inc.), Rahway, N.J.

Mason, I.L. 1996. A World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties. Fourth Edition. C.A.B International. 273 pp.

Photographs

R. E. McDowell, Professor Emeritus of International Animal Science, Cornell University, and provided by Paul O. Brackelsberg, Professor of Animal Science, IowaStateUniversity

Dr Alberto Zorloni, Ethiopia

Text taken from: S.Ndekezi, P.C.Nyetera, A.Nyagahene, Ubuhashyi bw’Abanyarwanda bo hambere, Kigali, Reji y’Icapiro ry’Amashuri, 1987.

Images taken from: www.ansi.okstate.edu

Resource 5: The role of cattle - past and present

 Pupil use

Section 4: understanding timelines

1. Building a timeline

Investigating a particular period in history, and trying to sequence events in the order in which they happened, will help pupils begin to see the links between events and some of the possible causes. Understanding the causes of change in our countries and societies may help us to live our lives better.

The purpose of this part is to explore how using timelines in history can be a useful way to divide time into more manageable ‘bits’, so that we know which ‘bit’ or period we are dealing with. This is particularly important when we are teaching history, because it is crucial that pupils understand the idea of change over time.

From an early age, pupils need help to sort and order events. As they grow and experience life, they can revisit activities like these ones, using more complex sequences and events.

(Section 1 in this module used timelines to explore family history. You might find it helpful to look at that section if you have not done so already, particularly if you are working with younger pupils.)

2. Introducing the concept of chronology

The study of time and the order in which events took place over time is called chronology. This part explores how you can help pupils understand this sequencing of events, the relationship between the order events happen and the outcomes. In using these activities with pupils, you will realise the importance this has on their understanding of the past.

3. Comparing African histories

Timelines can help us compare the similarities and differences in a series of events for different people, or different groups, or different countries.

For example, if your pupils drew timelines for themselves, there would be some events the same (starting school) and others different (birth of baby brother or sister for example).

Using timelines to compare the history of a variety of African countries during the time of moving to independence can help your pupils see common themes but also differences between their experiences.

Resource 1: Some important historical events since independence

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Resource 2: African timelines template

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Resource 3: Key events in the move to independence

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Taken from: www.http://www.africanhistory.about.com

Timeline – African countries in order of independence

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org

Section 5: Using artefacts to explore the past

1. Discussing artefacts in small groups

Handling artefacts or looking at pictures of them provides a means for you to draw attention to both the factual aspects of history and the interpretation involved. Something that will help you in this work is collecting resources as and when you can. Often it is possible to find old utensils and artefacts from the home and in markets.

This part will help you to plan tasks for your pupils to think about how things that we use in our everyday lives have changed over time. For example, by looking at what we use for cooking now and what we used in the past, we can begin to think about how people used to live. We can compare utensils and, from this, speculate about what it would have been like to live in the past and use such artefacts. This will stimulate pupils’ thinking about themselves and their place in the local community and its history.

2. Welcoming visitors to enhance the curriculum

One of the purposes of teaching history to your pupils is to allow them to understand and discover their own and their community’s identity. As a social studies teacher, even of primary school children, you should always be looking for interesting ways of helping pupils understand this past, their history. Considering how local customs, everyday tasks and the objects used for them have changed helps builds this identity.

3. Interpreting evidence from artefacts

History is always about balancing subjective claims (peoples’ personal accounts and opinions) against objective (independent) evidence. When exploring artefacts, rather than oral or written evidence, the same balancing applies. There are definite things that can be said about a pot for example, i.e. its shape, what it is made of etc. Something like ‘what it was used for’ can only be speculation, based on what we use such pots for now. By looking at the pot carefully, consulting old drawings and paintings and talking to others, we can build up a more certain picture of how it was used.

This part explores ways of helping pupils question their thinking and understanding about artefacts.

Resource 1: Using artefacts in the classroom

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

The opportunity to handle actual artefacts is a unique experience. For some reason that no one is quite sure of, the act of touching an object, which obviously has its own history and story, inspires everyone. Pupils will inevitably be curious about the artefacts and this will naturally lead to good discussion.

Handling an artefact allows pupils to use their senses, develop questioning and problem-solving skills, strengthen their understanding of a period, and empathise with people from the past.

What is the purpose of an artefact handling session?

Artefact handling sessions can be used to:

• motivate pupils at the start of a new topic;
• attract and hold the attention of pupils;
• deepen their understanding of a topic they are studying;
• lead to an in-depth study within a broader unit of work;
• act as a bridge between several different subjects or units of study;
• assess pupils’ developing understanding at the end of a lesson.

What questions should I ask during an artefact handling session?

The type of question you ask will depend on what you are using the artefacts for. The questions below should help you get the most out of using the artefacts.

Teaching with objects – some approaches

Many of the approaches detailed below can also be used when interrogating documents, prints and paintings with pupils.

Visual stimulus

Objects can be used to stimulate discussion at the beginning of a lesson. The same objects can be used to recap what pupils have learned and to see if any of their ideas and understandings have changed in the course of the lesson.

Historical inquiry

A selection of objects can be used by pupils for an exercise in historical inquiry – obtaining information from sources. Allow time for pupils to look at the object carefully before exploring some of the following questions:

• What is it made of?
• What tools or techniques were needed to make it?
• Who might have made it?
• Did making it require specialist skills?
• Is it decorated? How?
• Who might have used it?
• What was it used for?
• Did it have a practical function, or was it used in other ways?
• How large or heavy is it?
• Is it a valuable or rare object?

Drawing comparisons and relating objects to each other

Use two objects or images side by side and ask pupils to draw comparisons, exploring the similarities and differences. Use groups of objects and talk about the relationships between them.

Representations and interpretation

Some artefacts may show evidence of a particular viewpoint or bias. Who created the object and for what purpose? Is it an item of propaganda? Does it tell the whole story? What doesn’t it tell?

Other activities using objects include

Prediction activities – show pupils an object and ask them to work out which period of history it relates to.

Case study – pupils can use a single object or group of objects to build up a case study, for example, life in West Africa before the slave trade.

Groupings – pupils can group objects into sets that have particular things in common (such as the materials they are made from, the country they originated from, how they were used). Pupils can consider how to curate a museum display by grouping objects in different ways.

Caption or label writing – pupils can write their own captions or exhibition labels, either from a modern viewpoint or as if they were writing at the time the object was made.

Emotional intelligence – pupils can list adjectives that describe how they feel about an object, demonstrating empathy as well as understanding.

Creative responses – pupils can respond to an object through creative writing, drama or art.

Which subjects can benefit from using artefacts?

Learning from objects is beneficial to subjects across the curriculum:

• History: sense of chronology, empathy and key skills.
• Science: properties of materials, observation, comparing, classification and questioning skills.
• English: asking and answering questions, contextual materials.
• Drama: stimulus materials, developing empathy.
• Art and Design: stimulus materials, contextual materials, still-life drawing.

Resource 2: Poster for the National Museum

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Taken from: www.museum.gov.rw

Resource 3: My artefact

 Pupil use

Maximise