The Role of

Individual People

in History

The Assignment

Choose a historical person

Explain the persons significance for history

Todays Lesson

20 questions - who is Linda thinking about?

From facts to analysis

Start working on the assignment

20 questions
Discuss in pairs how to formulate good questions to
find out who I am thinking about. You may only as
yes and no questions.

Examples of questions and deduction. Question:
Did the person live in the Roman Empire? Answer:
No. Deduction: Then it is not Julius Caesar or
Augustus. Hmmm

Gustav Vasa
What is your view on Gustav Vasa (if any)?

Peder Svarts saga & Gustav Vasas
adventures in Dalarna (amazing king who
united Sweden)

His actions and letters show a skillful
politician but also a ruthless leader

Piece 1: Facts
Facts & describing

Describing in basic
terms (E)

Describing in details (C)

Source (for all of the pictures of

the pieces of the puzzle):

http://linusfremin.wordpress.com/
sitemap.xml

Piece 2: Understanding

It is not enough to only state facts

about the person!

You need facts that are important
in order to answer the question
In what way(s) was this person
significant for history? (for both E
and C)

Piece 3: balance and

conclusions
Drawing conclusions - describe
what you have come up with
(analysis based on facts - support
conclusions with examples/facts)

Balanced (A)
- Two perspectives (compare two views on Gustav Vasa)

- Conclusion: Identifying that he was the first to do something (unite Sweden)

- Conclusion: A man/woman of his/her time (part of the historical context)

What conclusions can you draw about your person?

Remember
Historical Empathy - we should not glorify
anyone

Nor should we portray someone in a negative
sense (for example, it is not the purpose of
this assignment to talk about what a bad
person Hitler was)

There are two sides to each coin (Mandela)

What to do next
Choose a person (from any part of the world) who
in some way has had an impact on history

Formulate your own research question (for
example, To what extent can Gustav Vasa be said
to have united Sweden?)

You either make a radio show in pairs/groups of
three or write an academic paper

DUE Thursday week 17 at 6 pm

What are you being

tested on?
Knowledge Requirement 1: Students can ___i___ give an
account of processes of change, events and people from
different time periods, and make different interpretations.
Students compare different interpretations, recommend one
and in a ___ii___ assessment, give reasons for their choice

Knowledge Requirement 3: Students give examples of some
individuals and explain in _____ their importance for
different processes

Knowledge Requirement 6: Students can with ___i___ use
___ii___ historical concepts to formulate, investigate, explain
and draw conclusions about historical questions from different
perspectives