History · Year 12

Active learning ideas

War with France and the Loss of Calais

Active learning helps students grasp the complexities of Mary I’s reign by moving beyond dates and events into analysis and empathy. When students examine primary sources or simulate policy decisions, they see how crises shaped policy and how policy responded to crises, making the human and administrative sides of history visible.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• A-Level: History - Mary I: Foreign Policy
• A-Level: History - The Tudors: England, 1485–1603

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Inquiry Circle
• 45 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Crisis of the 1550s

In small groups, students analyze data on harvest yields, mortality rates from the 'sweat', and food prices between 1555 and 1558. They must identify the 'peak' of the crisis and discuss how this affected the government's ability to collect taxes and maintain order.

Explain why Mary entered a war that primarily benefited Spain.

Facilitation Tip

During Collaborative Investigation, assign clear roles (e.g., note-taker, timeline keeper) to ensure all students contribute to the analysis of the 1550s crisis.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Was Mary I's decision to enter the war with France a strategic error driven by personal loyalty to Philip, or a calculated risk with unavoidable negative outcomes?' Have students debate the primary motivations and consequences, citing evidence from the period.

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

Activity 02

• Simulation Game
• 40 min · Small Groups

Simulation Game: The New Book of Rates

Students role-play a meeting of the treasury officials in 1558. They must decide how to update the 'customs duties' on various goods (like cloth and wine) to increase royal income, demonstrating the 'modernizing' side of Mary's administration.

Analyze how significant the loss of Calais was to the English psyche.

Facilitation Tip

For the Simulation of the New Book of Rates, provide students with simplified but authentic tax tables so they experience the challenge of balancing revenue and fairness.

What to look for

Provide students with a short primary source excerpt describing the mood in England after the loss of Calais. Ask them to identify two specific phrases that reveal the impact on the 'English psyche' and explain their significance in 1-2 sentences each.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 30 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: A Reign of Crisis?

Students are given a list of 'disasters' and 'reforms' from Mary's reign. They discuss in pairs whether the 'crisis' was caused by Mary's 'bad policy' or simply 'bad luck' and share their findings with the class.

Evaluate whether Mary's foreign policy was a total failure.

Facilitation Tip

Use Think-Pair-Share to slow down the discussion of crisis narratives, giving quieter students time to process before sharing with the whole class.

What to look for

On an index card, ask students to write one sentence explaining why Calais was important to England and one sentence evaluating whether Mary I's foreign policy was a complete failure, justifying their answer with a key reason.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by balancing the dramatic events (like Calais and epidemics) with the quieter administrative work that laid groundwork for the future. Avoid framing Mary’s reign solely as a series of failures. Instead, highlight the continuity of policy problems and solutions across Tudor rulers. Research shows that students retain more when they analyze primary sources in context rather than relying on textbook summaries.

Successful learning looks like students explaining how Mary’s government responded to multiple crises, not just listing the crises themselves. They should connect economic policies to social outcomes and evaluate whether those efforts succeeded or failed within the constraints of the time.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Collaborative Investigation, watch for students assuming Mary’s government did nothing constructive despite the crises.

  Use the activity’s focus on primary sources about the Act for the Mending of Highways and London poor relief to redirect students toward evidence of policy innovation, asking them to categorize these as responses to crisis or long-term improvements.

• During Think-Pair-Share, watch for students blaming Mary entirely for economic problems like inflation and debased coinage.

  Have students analyze a timeline of long-term economic trends from Henry VIII to Mary I, then discuss in pairs how the coinage crisis began before Mary’s reign and what tools she had to address it.

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Methods used in this brief

• Inquiry Circle
• Simulation Game
• Think-Pair-Share