History · Year 13

Active learning ideas

Economic Impact of WWI on Britain

Active learning works well for this topic because students need to analyze complex economic shifts and compare competing ideologies in a way that feels tangible. Role play and debate let them embody historical perspectives, while collaborative tasks make abstract concepts like war debt and industrial decline more concrete.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• A-Level: History - Britain, 1906-1951
• A-Level: History - Social and Economic Change in Interwar Britain

• 45–60 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Role Play
• 60 min · Whole Class

Role Play: The 1920 UNIA Convention

Students take on roles as delegates from different parts of the African diaspora. They must draft a 'Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World', reflecting Garvey's vision of global Black unity and self-determination.

Explain the economic challenges Britain faced immediately after World War I.

Facilitation Tip

For the UNIA role play, assign specific roles (e.g., Garvey, Du Bois, working-class Black citizen) and provide excerpts from UNIA speeches to ground their arguments in historical language.

What to look for

Facilitate a class debate using the prompt: 'Was the British government's economic policy between 1919 and 1925 more successful in addressing war debt or in supporting industrial recovery?' Ask students to cite specific evidence from their research.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Formal Debate
• 45 min · Whole Class

Formal Debate: Garvey vs. Du Bois

Divide the class to argue the merits of Garvey's separatism versus Du Bois's integrationism. Students must use primary source insults and critiques exchanged between the two leaders to understand the deep ideological rift in the 1920s.

Analyze the impact of war debt and reparations on the British economy.

Facilitation Tip

In the debate, give students 10 minutes to prepare opening statements using a graphic organizer that lists key economic policies and their impacts on different social groups.

What to look for

Provide students with a graphic organizer with two columns: 'Economic Challenges' and 'Government Responses'. Ask them to list three key challenges Britain faced post-WWI and one specific policy or action taken by the government to address each.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Inquiry Circle
• 50 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Black Star Line

Groups examine the business model and eventual failure of Garvey's shipping line. They present on whether the failure was due to mismanagement, sabotage, or the inherent difficulty of building a Black economy within a hostile white system.

Evaluate the effectiveness of government policies in managing post-war economic transition.

Facilitation Tip

For the Black Star Line investigation, divide students into groups to analyze primary documents like stock prospectuses, newspaper ads, and financial reports to identify both the company’s potential and its flaws.

What to look for

Present students with three short scenarios describing economic conditions in post-WWI Britain (e.g., a returning soldier struggling to find work, a factory owner facing reduced orders). Ask students to identify which economic concept (e.g., unemployment, industrial decline, war debt) is most relevant to each scenario and briefly explain why.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers approach this topic best by balancing ideological analysis with economic history, using primary sources to ground abstract concepts. Avoid presenting Garvey’s movement as a unified or monolithic force; instead, highlight its internal debates and practical challenges. Research shows that using counter-narratives (like comparing Garvey to Du Bois) deepens understanding of historical complexity.

Successful learning looks like students confidently explaining Garvey’s economic ideas, debating his influence, and tracing the Black Star Line’s challenges through primary sources. They should connect these events to broader themes of nationalism and economic self-reliance without oversimplifying his goals.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Role Play: The 1920 UNIA Convention, watch for students interpreting Garvey’s 'Back to Africa' slogan as a literal call for immediate mass migration to Africa.

  Use the role-play scripts to redirect students to Garvey’s speeches and UNIA documents, asking them to identify how his vision included liberation, self-governance, and economic cooperation rather than immediate physical relocation.

• During the Collaborative Investigation: The Black Star Line, watch for students concluding that the company’s failure meant Garvey’s entire movement collapsed overnight.

  Have groups present their findings on the Black Star Line’s financial and logistical challenges, then lead a class discussion on how Garvey’s ideas about economic independence influenced later movements despite the company’s downfall.

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Methods used in this brief

• Role Play
• Formal Debate
• Inquiry Circle