This activity took place with a year 8 class in a mixed 11-16 comprehensive school in East London. The school has 620 pupils from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

This activity formed part of a 12-lesson unit, 'When worlds collide', that looked at eight non-European societies and civilisations prior to Western European expansion, and then considered the impact of that expansion.

Aims

• To make links between key features of different non-European civilisations in the 15th and 16th centuries.
• To appreciate and compare the achievements and complexities of these societies.
• To gain knowledge of the world before European global conquests.
• To question assumptions about Western/Northern/European global conquests.
• To acquire knowledge about past societies that challenges racist notions of cultural superiority.

Activities

• To learn key features of three non-European societies contemporaneous with Tudor England.
• To make points of comparison between these societies.
• To evaluate these societies' achievements.
• To identify, select and use a range of sources as part of an enquiry into a non-European society.
• To communicate knowledge and understanding of the past using a range of techniques.
  

This activity also relates to the following references from the key stage 3 programme of study for history:

• describe and analyse the relationship between the characteristic features of the periods and societies studied, including the experiences and range of ideas, beliefs and attitudes of men, women and children in the past (2a)
• learn about the social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the societies studied, both in Britain and the wider world (2b)
• identify, select and use a range of appropriate sources of information (4a)
• communicate their knowledge and understanding of history using a range of techniques (5c).

Activity description

Before this activity, pupils had worked in groups to research one of the following societies: Ming China, Mughal India, the Ottoman Empire, Great Zimbabwe, Songhay-Mali, Benin, the Incas and the Aztecs. The groups used a range of resources including books, pictures, websites and videos.

Within the groups, each pupil played a particular role, for example geographer, historian, economist or anthropologist, and produced displays to show key facts about the society. They thought about what was important in that society, displayed items that the people might have put in a time capsule, wrote up the society's key values and designed a logo to represent the most important feature of the society.

The pupils put all their background research to use in this activity when they prepared to encounter another of the societies. The teacher made clear that such encounters did not actually happen, and that the exercise was to allow them to compare the different societies.

Each group planned a voyage, deciding what to take and considering possible hazards, and then prepared speeches for a first encounter. Each group met up with one other group. They looked at each other's displays and exchanged speeches, and then the geographers, historians, economists and anthropologists liaised with their counterparts in the other group, making notes and then feeding back to their own group.

Each group then met another group, so that by the end of the activity each pupil knew information about three more or less contemporaneous societies.

Commentary

After a largely Anglocentric history syllabus in year 7, the pupils became involved in debate and discourse about society, government, economics and culture entirely in the context of vibrant non-European civilisations. They were encouraged to see the 15th- and 16th-century world as one that did not have England or Europe as its centre.

The logistics of organising the activity were complex. Grouping pupils and managing the encounters needed planning, and a lot of the value of the activity depended on the quality of the background research pupils had done in previous lessons.

It was important to make sure that the activity did not become a low-level 'how people lived' project. The teacher wanted the pupils to focus on analysing the politics and economics of the societies and how they related to geography and culture. The pupils made comparisons of political structures, economic bases and cultural achievements.

By the end of the lesson the pupils were able to compare aspects of three societies. They learnt, for example, about the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and how close a Ming fleet was to launching expeditions of discovery. They discovered Mughal arts and science, Inca technology, Zimbabwean trade with Asia, and the city of Timbuktu. The teacher asked them to write about the societies, drawing out comparisons and looking for strengths and weaknesses in each society. A follow-up lesson compared key features of these societies with aspects of life in Tudor England.

The activity promoted diversity because pupils learnt and shared information and recognised that these societies were as significant as Tudor England.

Resources

The pupils found information through webquests - enquiry-based, structured learning activities in which pupils use information from the internet - to research the different societies. To find a webquest, type the topic and 'webquest' into a search engine. The WebQuestUK website (www.webquestuk.org.uk) has more information about webquests in general.

Television channels: National Geographic, History and UK History.

Television programmes: Millennium (BBC) and Lost civilisations (Discovery Channel).