Voices of Change: Ireland and the Wider World · 6th Year

Active learning ideas

Civil Rights in Northern Ireland: Demands & Marches

Active learning works for this topic because the negotiation process and civil rights actions were collaborative by nature. Students need to experience the tension, compromise, and public engagement that defined the peace process to truly grasp its complexity.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Politics, conflict and society
• NCCA: Primary - Local studies

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

Activity 01

• Role Play
• 60 min · Small Groups

Role Play: NICRA Meeting

Students are assigned roles of NICRA members, community leaders, and government officials. They debate specific grievances and potential protest strategies, culminating in a simulated meeting to decide on a course of action.

Differentiate between the civil rights issues in Northern Ireland and those in the United States.

Facilitation Tip

In the Simulation: The Negotiation Table, circulate and quietly prompt groups with phrases like 'What might the other side need to accept this?' to keep discussions moving forward.

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

Activity 02

• Document Mystery
• 45 min · Individual

Primary Source Analysis: March Footage

Watch short clips of NICRA marches and analyze them using a provided graphic organizer. Focus on identifying demands, protest methods, and audience reactions.

Analyze how the NICRA used peaceful protest to highlight inequalities.

Facilitation Tip

During Gallery Walk: The Referendum Posters, ask students to note which poster messages resonate most with the public and why.

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

Activity 03

• Formal Debate
• 50 min · Whole Class

Formal Debate: Government Response Effectiveness

Students research and debate whether the government's initial responses to NICRA's demands were appropriate or counterproductive, using historical evidence to support their arguments.

Explain the government's initial response to the civil rights marches.

Facilitation Tip

For Think-Pair-Share: What is Compromise?, provide sentence stems like 'I compromised when...' to guide student responses.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by emphasizing the human stories behind the politics. Avoid reducing the conflict to a simple victory of diplomacy. Research shows that connecting students to personal narratives and primary sources helps them see peace as a continuous process, not a single event. Use role-play to humanize key figures, which makes their decisions more relatable.

Successful learning looks like students recognizing the value of dialogue over conflict, understanding the public’s role in peace-building, and applying the concept of compromise to real historical decisions.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Simulation: The Negotiation Table, watch for students assuming the agreement was a single meeting where all issues were resolved at once. Redirect by asking them to identify which issues took years to finalize in the prompt cards.

  After Gallery Walk: The Referendum Posters, have students revisit the timeline of post-1998 events to see how public support translated into slow but steady progress on contentious issues.

• During Think-Pair-Share: What is Compromise?, watch for students believing only politicians shaped the Agreement. Redirect by asking them to consider the referendum results and public campaign materials as evidence of community involvement.

  During Gallery Walk: The Referendum Posters, pause students to highlight the high voter turnout figures on the posters and discuss what this reveals about public engagement in the peace process.

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Methods used in this brief

• Role Play
• Document Mystery
• Formal Debate