The Historian\ · 1st Year

Active learning ideas

Daily Life in Ancient Rome

Active learning invites students to step into the sandals of ancient Romans, making the complexity of daily life tangible. By engaging with role-plays, models, and maps, students move beyond abstract facts to grasp the lived experiences of different social classes in a way that reading alone cannot achieve.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Junior Cycle - Investigating the Past
• NCCA: Junior Cycle - Life and Society in Ancient Rome

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Role Play
• 45 min · Small Groups

Role-Play: A Day in Rome

Assign roles as patrician, plebeian, slave. Students follow scripted routines: breakfast, work, baths, dinner. Groups perform and debrief differences in 5 minutes.

Compare the daily lives of different social classes in ancient Rome.

Facilitation Tip

For the role-play, provide students with a one-sentence role card and a simple prop (e.g., a stylus for a patrician, a basket for a merchant) to ground their character immediately.

What to look for

Provide students with three images: a Roman villa, an insula, and a public bath. Ask them to write one sentence for each image explaining which social class likely used it and why.

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

Activity 02

• Role Play
• 50 min · Pairs

Model Building: Roman Insula

Provide card, straws for multi-story apartment blocks. Students add features like shops, latrines based on sources. Label social class uses and present.

Analyze how Roman infrastructure supported urban life.

Facilitation Tip

When building insula models, limit materials to recycled cardboard and masking tape to emphasize scarcity and crowding for lower-class housing.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'How did Roman infrastructure, like roads and aqueducts, contribute to the success and stability of the Roman Empire?' Facilitate a brief class discussion, encouraging students to cite specific examples.

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

Activity 03

• Concept Mapping
• 35 min · Pairs

Concept Mapping: Public Spaces Walkthrough

Draw Rome map, mark forum, Colosseum, aqueducts. Pairs trace a plebeian's day, noting infrastructure support. Share routes whole class.

Evaluate the role of public spaces and entertainment in Roman society.

Facilitation Tip

During the mapping activity, have students physically walk the route of an aqueduct or road on a large map to internalize infrastructure flow.

What to look for

Present students with a short list of Roman occupations (e.g., senator, baker, slave, gladiator). Ask them to categorize each occupation by social class (patrician, plebeian, slave) and briefly explain their reasoning.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Role Play
• 40 min · Small Groups

Source Sort: Class Artifacts

Distribute images of mosaics, tools, graffiti. Small groups sort by social class, justify with evidence, then gallery walk.

Compare the daily lives of different social classes in ancient Rome.

Facilitation Tip

For the source sort, use real artifacts like replica coins, tools, or jewelry to make class distinctions vivid and discussable.

What to look for

Provide students with three images: a Roman villa, an insula, and a public bath. Ask them to write one sentence for each image explaining which social class likely used it and why.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should avoid romanticizing Roman life while still highlighting its sophistication. Start with everyday details like meals, clothing, or commutes to humanize the topic, then layer in class distinctions. Research shows that hands-on comparisons (e.g., villa vs. insula) build critical thinking faster than lectures on social hierarchy.

Students will demonstrate understanding by connecting social roles to physical spaces, materials, and routines in Rome. Success looks like accurate comparisons between classes, clear explanations of community spaces, and thoughtful reflections during discussions and hands-on tasks.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role-Play: A Day in Rome, watch for students assuming all roles involve leisure or luxury. Redirect by having them describe their character’s first action of the day (e.g., a slave lighting a fire, a merchant setting up a stall) and compare daily chores.

  Ask students to act out their character’s morning routine, then pause to discuss how time, space, and resources differ by class. Point to evidence in their props and dialogue to challenge glamorous assumptions.

• During Model Building: Roman Insula, watch for inaccurate representations of insulae as comfortable or spacious. Redirect by providing a scale model of an insula’s typical height (5-6 stories) and floorplan to emphasize cramped conditions.

  Have students measure their model’s dimensions against a provided scale and list three challenges of living there (e.g., shared latrines, noise, lack of light). Compare these notes to the villa model’s features.

• During Mapping: Public Spaces Walkthrough, watch for students assuming public spaces were only for elites. Redirect by tracing the paths of commoners on the map (e.g., from insulae to markets or baths) and noting shared usage patterns.

  Ask pairs to map a day in the life of a plebeian and a patrician, marking overlapping spaces like the baths or forum. Discuss why these spaces were essential to both classes, using their maps as evidence.

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Methods used in this brief

• Role Play
• Concept Mapping