Activities for Schools and Colleges

Welcome to our resources and activities webpage for schools, colleges and teachers. Here you will be able to discover resources and activities that support school/college learners and educators in the learning and teaching of History at all levels.

Films

Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries: Medieval/Early Modern Keys and a Goldsmiths’ chest from the Grosvenor Museum Chester.

How did medieval people protect their worldly goods? This film is part of the Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries (MOB) network, a collaborative, interdisciplinary project funded by an AHRC network grant, which reconsiders the history of material culture in the period AD 1000-1700. This film starts with an introduction of the MOB project by Dr Leah R. Clark (The Open University) and Dr Katherine Wilson (University of Chester). This is followed by a close examination of medieval keys and a Goldsmiths' chest by Elizabeth Montgomery (Collections and Interpretation Officer) in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. This film showcases the keys that were important tools in keeping possessions safe as well as an early modern Goldsmiths’ chest, which required two keys to open it.  But what’s inside the chest?

Curriculum themes link: Migration, empires and the people c790 to the present day/Norman England, c1066-c1100/Medieval England: the reign of Edward I, 1272-1307/Elizabethan England, c1568-1603/Local Studies

Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries: Medieval/Early Modern Pilgrim badges and devotional tokens from the Grosvenor Museum Chester.

Are souvenirs a modern phenomenon? This film is part of the Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries (MOB) network, a collaborative, interdisciplinary project funded by an AHRC network grant, which reconsiders the history of material culture in the period AD 1000-1700. This film starts with an introduction of the MOB project by Dr Leah R. Clark (The Open University) and Dr Katherine Wilson (University of Chester). This is followed by a close examination of pilgrim badges and devotional tokens by Elizabeth Montgomery (Collections and Interpretation Officer) in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. This film showcases how medieval and Renaissance pilgrims travelled to shrines and brought home with them tokens as keepsakes of their journey.

Curriculum themes link: Migration, empires and the people c790 to the present day/Norman England, c1066-c1100/Medieval England: the reign of Edward I, 1272-1307/Elizabethan England, c1568-1603/Local Studies

Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries: Medieval/Early Modern Tiles from the Grosvenor Museum Chester.

What did floor tiles in churches and elite domestic interiors look like in medieval times? This film is part of the Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries (MOB) network, a collaborative, interdisciplinary project funded by an AHRC network grant, which reconsiders the history of material culture in the period AD 1000-1700. This film starts with an introduction of the MOB project by Dr Leah R. Clark (The Open University) and Dr Katherine Wilson (University of Chester). This is followed by a close examination of medieval floor tiles by Elizabeth Montgomery (Collections and Interpretation Officer) in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. This includes a discussion of the design on these colourful tiles, including the famous 3-hare tile from Chester cathedral, which copies motifs from a cave in Dunhuang China, dating from the 6th/7th centuries CE, demonstrating how motifs and ideas circulated long distances in the medieval period.

Curriculum themes link: Migration, empires and the people c790 to the present day/Norman England, c1066-c1100/Medieval England: the reign of Edward I, 1272-1307/Elizabethan England, c1568-1603/Local Studies

Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries: Medieval/Early Modern Shoes from the Grosvenor Museum Chester.

What did people wear on their feet and what did their shoes look like? This film is part of the Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries (MOB) network in History at the University of Chester, a collaborative, interdisciplinary project funded by an AHRC network grant, which reconsiders the history of material culture in the period AD 1000-1700. This film starts with an introduction of the MOB project by Dr Leah R. Clark (The Open University) and Dr Katherine Wilson (University of Chester). This is followed by a close examination of leather medieval shoes by Elizabeth Montgomery (Collections and Interpretation Officer) in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. This film brings medieval feet to life, by showing how these rare surviving shoes still bear signs of use, where an individual’s toes have stretched the leather in places. Stitch holes also hint at how these shoes were made and recycled.

Curriculum themes link: Migration, empires and the people c790 to the present day/Norman England, c1066-c1100/Medieval England: the reign of Edward I, 1272-1307/Elizabethan England, c1568-1603/Local Studies

An Outreach Guide to Digital Skills in History

Listen and learn from Dr Hannah Ewence, Senior lecturer in History at the University of Chester who talks about the role that digital technologies play in the teaching, research and dissemination of History.

Websites

Diverse Narratives: Cheshire in the First World War

In recent years, historians of the First World War have turned their attention from the story of the wartime ‘Tommy’ to focus on the other groups and peoples involved. The Diverse Narratives project, organised by Dr Hannah Ewence and Professor Tim Grady, explored how many of these lesser known histories played out in Cheshire. The project website contains stories amongst others about Belgian refugees, Jewish fighters and German prisoners of war who all experienced the conflict from Cheshire.

Curriculum themes link: Britain: migration empires and the people c.790 to the present day/Migration to Britain c1000 to c2010