History: exploring maps of London over the last 2000 years to look for evidence of change.
Subject: History
Key Stage: 2
Title: Viewpoints of London
Idea: Explore interactive maps showing London over the last 2000 years to look for evidence of change.
Recce and Londinium are two free and engaging apps which combine well to enable children to compare London in Roman times with today’s city. Recce lets you zoom around the city, dropping down to get a 3D view of buildings and see boats, cars and trains chugging around. Londinium brings key sites to life using a map in Roman times. You can ‘excavate’ archaeological finds with your fingers to reveal where they were found and use a slider to compare ancient and modern maps of London.
Key Questions:
How has the city changed over the last 2000 years?
What evidence remains from Roman times?
What do the found artefacts tell us about Roman life?
What factors influenced the changes in the city?
Skills:
Navigating maps
Evaluating historical sources
Looking for evidence of historical change
Activities:
Choose an area of London to explore and use the viewpoints available to look for evidence of change. Take screenshots of key discoveries.
Combine screenshots into a slideshow using the free app Haiku Deck.
Taking it Further:
Screenshots could be annotated using the app Skitch, narration added using the app Explain Everything or combined into a postcard using Photocard.
Useful Links:
Exploring Virtual Cities with Recce: A platform for transforming learning
Enhancing topic work across the curriculum using iPads
Contributor: Helen Caldwell