Medieval topics
Year Levels 5-9
For best effect intersperse Active, Passive and Interactive!
Tournament
(Active)
Knights and feudalism were the backbone of medieval society.
Students train as squires and take on a fighter (with medieval style blunted training weapons).
Requires open activity area (hall, gym or oval)
Weapons and Armour
(Passive)
1000 years of medieval history through its changing military technology, which also changed culture and politics. (Props and role-plays).
Requires classroom
Crime and Punishment
(Passive)
A survey of customs, laws and sciences; group role plays using stocks, whips and torture instruments
Requires classroom with Data Projector
Archery
(Active)
The rise of the archer from peasant hunter to professional soldier slowly undermined feudalism. (Blunted arrows and rubber target).
Requires a secure area of open space, gymnasium or hall. (Maximum of 32 students).
The Role of Dance
(Active)
Explores the role of dancing in the life of peasants and nobles: from simple exercise, to better jobs, to advantageous marriage. (Students learn simple dances).
Requires activity room
The Troubadours
(Interactive)
The multi-media news and education channel of the medieval period. (Students learn some juggling).
Requires classroom with Data Projector
Fashion and Dress
(Passive)
Tracing social development using the clothing technology, trade, social status and sumptuary laws. (Role-play and dress ups).
Requires classroom (long periods a Data Projector).
Education and Games
(active)
Living and learning in a non-literate society. Who gets what jobs, and why?
Requires a secure area of open space, gymnasium or hall. (Maximum of 32 students).
Heraldry
(Interactive)
What was it for, how it worked, and its continuous relevance in modern culture. (Students design a meaningful coat of arms).
Requires classroom with a Data Projector
Medieval Japan
(Passive)
Why the Japanese also came up with medieval concepts of feudalism, law, heraldry and even romance.
Requires classroom with a Data Projector
Muslims in the middle ages
(Passive)
Medieval Europe faced an Islam in it's 'Classical' expansionist stage. A very different culture, with much to offer, and much to fear.
Requires classroom with a Data Projector.
Three Medieval Cultures
(Passive)
Compares the lives of nobles and peasants in Lain (European), Muslim and Japanese cultures. Includes elements of the previous two topics (Medieval Japan and Muslims in the Middle Ages) in a comparative discussion.
Requires classroom with a Data Projector
The status of women
(Passive)
Women had a much higher status under Germanic law than after the reintroduction of Roman law. Challenges notions of history as 'linear'.
Requires classroom with a Data Projector.