The Great Fire of London 1666Activities & Teaching Strategies
Active learning helps students grasp how human choices and environmental factors combined to fuel the Great Fire of London in 1666. By physically moving between stations, debating decisions, and constructing models, students connect primary evidence to the fire’s rapid spread and lasting impact on the city.
Learning Objectives
- 1Analyze the specific building materials and urban planning features that contributed to the rapid spread of the Great Fire of London.
- 2Explain the immediate and long-term consequences of the Great Fire on London's architecture, public safety regulations, and city planning.
- 3Evaluate the validity of contemporary accusations against foreigners as scapegoats for the Great Fire, considering the political climate of the time.
- 4Compare the firefighting methods available in 1666 with modern techniques to assess the challenges faced by Londoners during the fire.
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Stations Rotation: Fire Spread Factors
Set up stations with models showing wooden houses, wind effects via fans, narrow streets with barriers, and firefighting tools. Groups spend 7 minutes at each, testing how changes affect flame spread on paper models and noting observations. Conclude with a class share-out comparing results to 1666 accounts.
Prepare & details
Analyze why the fire spread so quickly through London.
Facilitation Tip: For the Station Rotation, provide a one-sentence task card at each station to keep groups focused on the specific factor being investigated.
Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room
Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer
Role-Play: Firebreak Debates
Assign roles as mayor, bakers, property owners, and firefighters. Groups debate whether to demolish houses using gunpowder, weighing risks to possessions against fire containment. Vote and reflect on decisions via written journals linked to Samuel Pepys' diary.
Prepare & details
Explain how the fire changed the architecture and safety of the city.
Facilitation Tip: During the Role-Play, assign student roles using name cards so participants stay in character throughout the debate.
Setup: Flexible space for group stations
Materials: Role cards with goals/resources, Game currency or tokens, Round tracker
Source Analysis: Blame Game
Provide pamphlets, eyewitness letters, and broadsheets accusing foreigners. Pairs sort evidence for accident versus arson, then present findings in a mock trial format. Discuss xenophobia's role using timelines of Anglo-Dutch wars.
Prepare & details
Evaluate why foreigners were blamed for starting the fire.
Facilitation Tip: In the Source Analysis, give students a color-coded guide to quickly identify author bias in each document before they begin sorting.
Setup: Flexible space for group stations
Materials: Role cards with goals/resources, Game currency or tokens, Round tracker
Model Building: Rebuilt London
Individuals sketch and build small models contrasting pre- and post-fire streets using craft sticks for timber and bricks for stone. Label safety features like wider alleys. Gallery walk allows peer feedback on Wren's influences.
Prepare & details
Analyze why the fire spread so quickly through London.
Facilitation Tip: For Model Building, set a timer for 10 minutes of planning before students touch materials to prevent hasty decisions.
Setup: Flexible space for group stations
Materials: Role cards with goals/resources, Game currency or tokens, Round tracker
Teaching This Topic
Teachers find success by grounding abstract historical concepts in tangible tasks. Avoid lengthy lectures about the fire’s timeline; instead, let students discover how tightly packed wooden houses and narrow streets trapped heat and flames. Use replica objects like leather buckets and hooks to make firefighting methods memorable. Research shows that when students physically simulate the spread or debate decisions, they retain details about causes and consequences better than through passive reading.
What to Expect
Students will explain why the fire moved so quickly, debate the effectiveness of firebreaks, evaluate biased sources, and design safer rebuilding plans. Evidence of these understandings should appear in their discussions, maps, and models.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Station Rotation: Fire Spread Factors, watch for students who assume arson was the cause based on rumours.
What to Teach Instead
Use the station on 'Human Rumour vs Factual Evidence' where students sort primary sources into 'Rumour' and 'Evidence' columns, then discuss why rumours spread despite no proof of arson.
Common MisconceptionDuring Role-Play: Firebreak Debates, watch for students who assume firefighters used modern equipment.
What to Teach Instead
Provide replica buckets and hooks at the debate table and ask students to explain how these tools limited their ability to create effective firebreaks during their role-play.
Common MisconceptionDuring Model Building: Rebuilt London, watch for students who recreate the medieval city structure instead of Wren’s reforms.
What to Teach Instead
Display a side-by-side comparison of pre-fire and post-fire street plans at the building station and require students to label three changes in their models.
Assessment Ideas
After Station Rotation: Fire Spread Factors, collect each group’s completed factor grid and check for accurate connections between building materials, street layout, and fire speed.
During Role-Play: Firebreak Debates, listen for evidence-based arguments about why certain firebreak strategies failed, noting whether students reference wind, building materials, or limited tools in their reasoning.
After Source Analysis: Blame Game, present a short, biased paragraph and ask students to identify the author’s likely bias and one factual error in the text, collected as a written response.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: Ask early finishers to research and present one modern fire safety feature inspired by Christopher Wren’s rebuilding rules.
- Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters for the debate roles, such as 'I oppose this firebreak because...' to support reluctant speakers.
- Deeper exploration: Invite students to compare the Great Fire of London with another historical fire using a Venn diagram to identify patterns in urban fire disasters.
Key Vocabulary
| Firebreak | A gap, such as a wide road or cleared area, created to stop the spread of a fire. |
| Timber-framed construction | A building method using a wooden structural frame, common in pre-fire London, which was highly flammable. |
| Pudding Lane | The narrow street where the Great Fire of London began in Thomas Farriner's bakery in 1666. |
| Rebuilding Act | Legislation passed after the fire to regulate the construction of new buildings in London, mandating brick and stone. |
| Scapegoat | A person or group blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others. |
Suggested Methodologies
Planning templates for History
5E Model
The 5E Model structures lessons through five phases (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), guiding students from curiosity to deep understanding through inquiry-based learning.
Unit PlannerThematic Unit
Organize a multi-week unit around a central theme or essential question that cuts across topics, texts, and disciplines, helping students see connections and build deeper understanding.
RubricSingle-Point Rubric
Build a single-point rubric that defines only the "meets standard" level, leaving space for teachers to document what exceeded and what fell short. Simple to create, easy for students to understand.
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