History · Year 2

Active learning ideas

Local Transport: Then and Now

Active learning helps Year 2 students anchor abstract historical changes in concrete, local experiences. Walking the streets they know and handling photographs of past transport make 100-year shifts visible and memorable. Movement and talk turn textbook ideas into lived knowledge.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: History - Changes within living memory
• KS1: History - Continuity and change

• 20–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Placemat Activity
• 45 min · Whole Class

Local Walk: Spot the Changes

Lead a class walk around the local area to identify current transport like bus stops and cycle paths. Discuss and sketch what might have been there 100 years ago using pre-walk photos. Back in class, groups compare sketches to create a shared display.

How did people travel around your local area 100 years ago?

Facilitation Tip

During the Local Walk: Spot the Changes, carry a simple tally sheet to record how many modern versus historical transport features students notice along the route.

What to look for

Provide students with two drawing boxes. Ask them to draw one way people traveled in the local area 100 years ago in the first box, and one way people travel today in the second box. Label each drawing.

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

Activity 02

• Placemat Activity
• 30 min · Small Groups

Timeline Build: Small Groups

Provide images of past and present transport. Groups sort them chronologically on a long paper timeline, add labels, and note reasons for changes like 'cars are faster'. Present timelines to the class.

How is transport in your local area different today compared to the past?

Facilitation Tip

When groups build the Timeline Build, give each team a small envelope with mixed images so they must discuss and negotiate placement before gluing.

What to look for

Show images of different historical and modern transport (e.g., a horse and cart, a bicycle, an early bus, a modern car, a train). Ask students to hold up a green card if they think it was used 100 years ago, and a red card if they think it is mostly used today.

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

Activity 03

• Placemat Activity
• 20 min · Pairs

Sorting Game: Pairs

Give pairs cards with transport pictures labeled 'Then' or 'Now'. They sort, discuss differences, and invent a new transport for the future. Pairs share one idea with the class.

Why do you think new ways of travelling have been invented over time?

Facilitation Tip

For the Sorting Game: Pairs, provide two trays labeled ‘100 years ago’ and ‘today’ so students physically sort cards into clear categories.

What to look for

Ask students: 'Imagine you need to travel across town to visit a friend. How would you have done that 100 years ago? How would you do it now? What are the biggest differences?'

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

Activity 04

• Placemat Activity
• 25 min · Individual

Oral History Share: Individual

Students interview a family member about past local travel, draw a picture, and share in a class circle. Compile responses into a class book of stories.

How did people travel around your local area 100 years ago?

Facilitation Tip

In the Oral History Share: Individual, set a visible timer of 90 seconds to keep sharing focused and fair for each student.

What to look for

Provide students with two drawing boxes. Ask them to draw one way people traveled in the local area 100 years ago in the first box, and one way people travel today in the second box. Label each drawing.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Focus on observable evidence rather than abstract dates. Start with what children can see right now—road surfaces, bus stops, parked cars—then layer historical images over those familiar spaces. Keep explanations concrete: ‘This road once had tram tracks; now buses run where horses pulled carts.’ Avoid overloading with dates; instead, let students discover patterns of change through repeated exposure to sources.

Successful learning looks like students pointing out specific changes on the walk, organizing images on a timeline in the correct order, and explaining why transport changed using examples from the sorting game. They should articulate differences between past and present with evidence they gathered themselves.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Local Walk: Spot the Changes, watch for students assuming all past transport was slow and all modern transport is fast.

  Point to specific features on the walk, such as a modern bus stop near where a tram once ran, and ask students to describe what they see and how it changed.

• During Timeline Build: Small Groups, watch for students placing images randomly without considering the order of change.

  Prompt groups to compare two adjacent images and ask, ‘Did horses come before or after early trams?’ to guide logical sequencing.

• During Sorting Game: Pairs, watch for students labeling all old-fashioned images as ‘100 years ago’ without noticing some modern items like bicycles remain common.

  Have pairs re-sort the cards while explaining their choices aloud, focusing on why some items stayed the same while others disappeared.

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Methods used in this brief

• Placemat Activity