Cunning Plan

Step-by-step plans for tackling teaching issues

Cunning Plan is a regular feature in Teaching History (TH), offering a series of instructions for tackling a particular issue. Cunning Plans range in purpose and scale from detailed suggestions for teaching specific topics or responding to particular challenges, through outline schemes of work for a particular enquiry, to overarching frameworks that map progression in relation to particular concepts or themes.

Most Cunning Plans are written by classroom teachers, eager to share their successful ideas in an accessible format. Each one sets out the issue or problem that the plan is intended to address and provides a step-by-step series of instructions or recipe for achieving the core objective(s).

Cunning plan title/topic

TH issue

Year 

Author

Does women’s suffrage deserve a more prominent place in Australia’s national narrative?

196

2024

Jonathon Dallimore, Martin Douglas

Studying medieval Ghana and Aksum

195

2024

Thomas Knowles

Teaching about climate change through the history curriculum

194

2024

Nebiat Michael and Nini Visscher

A suggested itinerary for visiting Berlin

192

2023

Geraint Brown, Matthew Stanford

Diving deep into ‘history from below’ with Year 8

191

2023

Nathanael Davies

Using art to make A-level history more accessible

190

2023

Gemma Hargraves

Teaching Samurai Japan in Key Stage 3

186

2022

Joseph Player

Building difference into GCSE curriculum design

185

2021

Carmel Bones

Teaching a broader Britain, 1625–1714

183

2021

Helen Snelson

Incorporating a more global perspective within Key Stage 3

181

2020

Tess McLaughlin

Using TV producers’ techniques to make the most effective use of retrieval practice

179

2020

Pam Canning

How far did Anglo-Saxon England survive the Norman Conquest?

178

2020

Eve Hackett

Teaching about life in Elizabethan England by looking at death

177

2019

Robin Conway

Using the England's Immigrants database

175

2019

Diana Laffin

Teaching Year 8 to create and refine a narrative of the interwar years

174

2019

Alex Rodker

Using Black Tudors as a window into Tudor England

173

2018

Chris Lewis

Teaching the industrial revolution

167

2017

Elizabeth Carr

Developing an enquiry on the First Crusade

166

2017

Rachel Foster, Kath Goudie

Helping lower attaining students to grasp historical interpretations

165

2016

Sophie Sullivan

Developing an A-level course in medieval history

163

2016

Michael Fordham

GCSE Thematic study

163

2016

Sally Thorne

Building useful knowledge at KS3 and transferring it to KS4

162

2016

Elizabeth Carr

Magna Carta's legacy

161

2016

Raven Tolson

Putting the people into the Magna Carta

159

2015

Ian Dawson

Was King John unlucky with his barons?

159

2015

Damian Hayes

Teaching about the history of the UK parliament

158

2015

Tony McConnell

Interpreting WW1 events

155

2014

Paula Worth

Who is buried in the box? Layers of history

154

2014

Philip Arkinstal

Placing visual sources at the heart of historical learning

152

2013

Shaun Collins

Using Gillray cartoons to enable Year 8 pupils to understand 18th-century Britain

152

2013

John Carter

The 'Glorious' revolution of 1688

151

2013

Arthur Chapman

Exploring the Migration experience

149

2013

Cecilia Axelsson

A Year 7 lesson on Gladiators

149

2013

Nicholas Flynn

Getting students to use classical texts

147

2012

Beth Baker

Promoting independent student enquiry

144

2011

Ben Twitchin

Constructing historical claims about the British Empire

143

2011

Laura Fyson

Why do historical interpretations change over time?

142

2011

Giles Fullard and Tom Wheeley

Bringing history to life

140

2010

Jonathan Davies

Teaching about Victorian debates on progress

139

2010

Jonathan White

Making homework more exciting

137

2010

Robin Conway

Challenging generalisations

135

2009

Christine Counsell

Local history at KS3

134

2009

Dan Moorhouse

Year 7 and the new National Curriculum

132

2008

Christine Counsell

Mary I

129

2007

Alison Stephen

Abolitionist icons

127

2007

Andy Prestoe

What can Berlin tell us about Germany in the 20th century?

126

2007

Steve Mastin

Planning a school trip

123

2006

Tony McConnell

Why was Berlin such a significant theatre of conflict after 1945?

120

2005

Anna Hamilton, Tony McConnell

Geography in history: how do earthquakes affect a place?

116

2004

Duncan Hawley

Building overview understanding of 19th-century social history

114

2004

Christine Counsell

Empire

112

2003

Anna Hamilton, Tony McConnell

Year 8 lesson on C.V. Wedgwood's writing

111

2003

Christine Counsell

Imperial China

110

2003

Paul Parkinson, Carol Nelson

Teaching the French Revolution to Year 12

109

2002

Sarah Boote

Teaching Tudor architecture

108

2002

Diana Laffin

The big idea of Freedom

107

2002

Chris Husbands, Alison Kitson

Political literacy

106

2002

Richard Harris

Crusades Enquiry

105

2001

Christine Counsell

Why did Henry VIII marry so many times?

103

2001

Alison Webb

How emailing enhanced students' debating skills

101

2000

Richard Harris, Diana Laffin

Teaching the First World War in Year 9

100

2000

Dale Banham

A world study after 1900

99

2000

Geraint Brown, Stephen Bayes, Ben Jeffreys

Britain 1750-1900

98

2000

Richard Cunningham

A-Level: International Relations 1890-1914

97

1999

Richard Harris, Seán Lang

Teaching citizenship through KS3 history

96 

1999

Andrew Wrenn

Medicine through time

95

1999

Dale Banham

Study Unit 2: Crowns, Parliaments and Peoples, 1500-1750

94

1999

Michael Riley

Study Unit 3: 'The Making of the United Kingdom 1500-1750'

93

1998

Richard Harris

A-Level European history: The Weimar Republic

92

1998

Diana Laffin



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