Five changes in Irish life from the last hundred years:
- Electricity in country homes (from 1946)
- First night of Irish television (1961)
- Free secondary school (1967)
- Joining the European Economic Community (1973)
- First woman elected President (1990)
What do you notice or wonder?
We will work out which mattered most, and how a historian decides.
The line runs from mattered less to mattered most.
Where does this change belong on the line?
Which test did you use, and what in the short fact backs it?
Would anyone place it somewhere else, and why?
Which test is strongest for this change, and why?
Which changes mattered most?
In your copy, finish these lines in your own words:
The change that mattered most was ...
It mattered because ...
The test I used is ...
Look back at the line we made and at what you wrote in your copy.
Which change does our class say mattered most, and which test backs that judgement?
Can two people place the same change in different places and both be using evidence well?
What can five short facts on a board NOT tell us about these changes?
A historian decides what mattered by using tests and evidence. Different judgements can both be strong when each one shows its reasons, and short facts always leave something out.
What change happening in Ireland now might a historian test for significance in fifty years' time?
That was a sample lesson from History for 6th Class
Every lesson in the course is ready to teach like this one. See what else comes with it, and how to order it.
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2026. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.