HASS · Year 8

Active learning ideas

Viking Exploration: Iceland and Greenland

Active learning helps students grasp Viking exploration because it transforms distant settlements into personal decisions. By tracing word origins or evaluating settlement choices, students move from passive reading to active analysis of cause and effect in history.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9H8K02

• 20–30 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Inquiry Circle
• 30 min · Pairs

Inquiry Circle: The Viking Word Hunt

Students are given a list of common English words and must use etymology tools to find which ones have Old Norse origins. They then create a 'Viking Tree' showing how these words branched into modern English.

Explain the environmental and social factors that drove Viking settlement in Iceland and Greenland.

Facilitation Tip

During the word hunt, circulate with a printed list of target words so students can verify their finds and add context from the lesson.

What to look for

Provide students with a map showing Iceland and Greenland. Ask them to label three geographical features that would have presented challenges to Viking settlers and write one sentence explaining why each was difficult.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Gallery Walk
• 30 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Viking Influence Today

Stations feature modern logos (like Bluetooth), place names in England (ending in -by or -thorpe), and legal concepts. Students move around to identify the 'hidden' Viking legacy in the 21st century.

Analyze the challenges faced by Viking settlers in establishing communities in new lands.

Facilitation Tip

Set a 5-minute rotation timer for the gallery walk so students analyze each station fully without rushing to the next.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are a Viking explorer deciding whether to settle in Iceland or Greenland. What are the top two reasons you would choose one over the other, and what is your biggest fear about settling there?' Allow students to share their reasoning in small groups.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The End of an Age

Students discuss why 1066 is considered the end of the Viking Age. They consider whether the Vikings 'lost' or simply changed into something else, like the Normans or the Christianized Scandinavians.

Compare the settlement patterns in Iceland and Greenland with those in other Viking territories.

Facilitation Tip

For the Think-Pair-Share, provide sentence stems like 'I think the Normans were Vikings because...' to guide concise responses.

What to look for

Present students with a list of factors (e.g., fertile land, access to timber, harsh winters, political stability). Ask them to categorize each factor as either a 'pull' factor (encouraging settlement) or a 'push' factor (driving people away) for Iceland and Greenland.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should emphasize continuity over disappearance when teaching Viking decline. Research shows students often assume cultural extinction, so frame integration as a natural outcome of contact. Use maps and timelines to show how Viking groups became new identities like the Normans, making the past feel relevant to modern identities.

Students should connect Viking exploration to lasting cultural impacts, not just memorize dates or names. Success looks like students using language evidence to explain settlement patterns or articulating how Viking influence persists today.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Think-Pair-Share activity, watch for students who say the Vikings were 'wiped out' by 1066.

  Use the Think-Pair-Share prompt about Normans and the year 1066 to redirect: ask students to trace Viking descendants and explain how their legacy continued in new forms.

• During the Viking Word Hunt activity, watch for students who think Viking influence is limited to Scandinavia.

  During the word hunt, direct students to notice words like 'sky,' 'window,' and 'law' and ask them to mark which languages still use these terms today, showing global reach.

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Methods used in this brief

• Inquiry Circle
• Gallery Walk
• Think-Pair-Share