History · 3rd Year

Active learning ideas

Games of Ancient Greece and Rome

Active learning helps students grasp the stark contrasts in childhood experiences during the Victorian era by making abstract social and economic differences concrete. Through hands-on play and comparison, students better understand how industrialization shaped everyday life for children across classes.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Life, society, work and culture in the past
• NCCA: Primary - Continuity and change over time

• 30–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 50 min · Small Groups

Stations Rotation: Victorian Playtime

Set up stations with different Victorian-style activities: playing 'hoop and stick' (using a hula hoop), making a 'thaumatrope' (optical toy), and playing a game of marbles.

Explain how ancient sports prepared young people for adult life or war.

Facilitation Tip

In Role Play: The Nursery vs. The Street, provide props like fabric scraps or simple wooden toys to help students stay in character and focus on historical authenticity.

What to look for

Provide students with a scenario: 'Imagine you are a 10-year-old in ancient Athens. Choose one game or sport you would like to train for. Write 2-3 sentences explaining why you chose it and how it might help you when you grow up.'

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Inquiry Circle
• 35 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Toy Catalog

Groups look at an old Victorian toy advertisement and a list of wages for the time. They must calculate how many weeks a poor family would have to work to buy one expensive doll.

Analyze the role of theatre and performance in Greek and Roman society.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'How did the purpose of ancient Greek theatre differ from the purpose of a movie or play today?' Facilitate a class discussion, encouraging students to cite specific examples of ancient plays and their social functions.

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

Activity 03

• Role Play
• 30 min · Whole Class

Role Play: The Nursery vs. The Street

Divide the class into 'Wealthy' and 'Poor' Victorian children. They act out a scene where they describe their favorite toy and how much time they have to play each day.

Compare the Olympic Games of ancient Greece to modern Olympics.

What to look for

Display images of ancient Roman toys (e.g., dice, spinning tops) and Greek athletic equipment (e.g., discus, jumping weights). Ask students to write down one similarity and one difference between these items and toys or sports equipment used today.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with concrete examples of Victorian toys to build background knowledge before moving to abstract concepts like social inequality. Use timelines to show how industrialization changed production methods over time. Avoid romanticizing poverty; emphasize resilience while acknowledging hardship.

Students will analyze how toys and games reflected social inequality and the impact of industrialization. They will justify their ideas with evidence from activities, demonstrating empathy for children from different backgrounds and historical periods.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Collaborative Investigation: The Toy Catalog, watch for students dismissing homemade games as 'boring' or unimportant.

  Ask students to compare the materials and effort required to make a porcelain doll versus a rag doll, guiding them to see the ingenuity in simplicity.

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Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation
• Inquiry Circle
• Role Play