The impact of empire - Michael Riley

'This is History!' is the Schools History Project's radical new scheme of work for Key Stage 3 National Curriculum history. It offers a varied, relevant and challenging scheme of work for the whole Key Stage 3 history programme of study.

'The Impact of Empire' tells the story of the British Empire from the 1480s to the present. The British Empire is an important yet under-taught topic in British schools. This book aims to redress that balance by providing intriguing and relevant case studies, telling powerful stories and providing activities which engage pupils with the key ideas and which make this vast topic accessible to all teachers and all pupils whatever their ability. Through a combination of in-depth and overview units the book covers 500 years of history, from the story of Britain's first colony of Roanoke in North America (a failure) to the powerful legacy of colonialism in contemporary multicultural Britain.

Flexibility: each of the units are relatively self-contained allowing them to be slotted into the other history units in your scheme of work as required, or the units can be used together as a whole course to last half a term or more.

The content coverage is broad: it touches on North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, the Middle East and India. Separate units investigate the slave trade, the scramble for Africa and transportation to Australia. There are three linked units telling the story of British involvement in India from the early traders through the East India Company to the story of Gandhi and decolonisation in the 1940s. It examines both the impact of the Empire on Britain itself and its impact on the colonised nations.

The skills focus is on interpretations: how we can tell the story of something so vast and varied; and why people differ in their interpretations of the Empire.

This Teacher's Resource Book provides worksheets and teaching notes to support all the main tasks and further activities to help you vary the learning styles.