History Lesson Plans | The Edinburgh Dungeons

TORTUROUS TALES AND CHILLING CHARACTERS THROUGH THE AGES..

Step backwards in time and encounter some chilling characters and their torturous tales! Stretch your students’ History skills to identify different crimes and punishment methods through the ages and explore how attitudes to crime and punishment have changed over time.

Lesson 1: Chilling characters and their crimes!

To categorise crimes according to the nature of criminal activity involved
To describe different types of criminal activity and crimes from c. 1500 to 1900
To place crimes and criminals in chronological order from c. 1500 to 1900

Lesson 2: Punishment Methods in Early Modern Britain

To identify and describe different methods of punishment in Early Modern Britain.
To rank punishment methods in order of severity and explain reasoning.
To match different punishments to crimes in Early Modern Britain.

Lesson 3: Bringing Criminals’ Stories to Life...

To recap the different criminals, crimes and punishments encountered in the Dungeons.
To place crimes and punishments on a chronological timeline, noting down any changes to crime and punishment over time.
To complete a Historical Case Study for one criminal or criminal event.

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MEET SOME OF THE UK’S MOST INFAMOUS CHARACTERS…

Pupils will be invited to think about the historical context of the dungeons and how to bring a scene to life through scriptwriting and performance techniques, stretching their English and drama skills, all in the dark and mysterious and utterly HORRIBLE setting of the Dungeons itself!

Lesson 1: A horrible cast of characters…

To make inferences about characters based on biographical facts and historical context
To write and act in-role as a given character, conveying that character’s thoughts, feelings and motivations

Lesson 2: Frightening scenes and showdowns...

To identify some of the features of the horror genre
To carry out interview role-plays using the conventions of the horror genre
To write dialogue for the interview, including stage directions for actors

Lesson 3: Bringing Criminals’ Stories to Life...

To recap the different features of a good script
To use different story starters to prompt creative ideas for a script
To write and perform a script, including stage directions

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Using the pupil worksheets, students will learn about the causes and the short term/long term effects of the plague as well as learning about medieval beliefs surrounding medicine and health. We recommend giving time to your pupils to reflect and write a diary as if they are a goldsmith living in Edinburgh during the plague of 1348, for example.

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Torture has been used for over 2000 years and most of the world’s civilizations have used torture at some point as a way of punishing their victims or to gain information. Many of the instruments of torture you will see in the Dungeon have been around for hundreds of years. These work sheets will help students understand how and why they were used and their effects within the context of history.