1 What is History?

blackboard, pictures, charts, E-cards, electronic

gadgets, and others

 History is a collection of many people's stories of the past—you and me make history.
 Movers and shakers of the past are great source of inspiration for us.

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to
 know what is history and the different sources of
history
 understand and recognise the importance of history
 gain an understanding of the social and cultural life of
the past from various sources
 appreciate the importance of historical research in
finding about the past
Through the course of the lesson, students will be
able to
 identify the different sources of history
 define various terms related to history
 produce a flow chart of different sources of history neatly
 infer and interpret data such as cave paintings and
sculptures to know the social and cultural life of the past

Warm up and introduction Warm up leading to the concept

 You may ask the students to recall important events  Show timeline chart of a person's life, highlighting
in their life. important personal and professional events.
 Ask probing questions to direct students’ attention to
history being events of the past.

00:10  Generate an informal discussion with questions such as

the following:
• Where do you live?
• Do you have any old/historical monuments in you place?
• Do you have temples?
• Do you have any antic articles at home?
 Show pictures such as Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple,
Tanjore Peria Koil, Santhome Church, Nagore Dharga,
Srivillipudur Temple, Mamallapuram, Taj Mahal, and so on
and get the students talking about what they know.

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Reading Introduce the lesson through the dialogue at the
Two students can take the roles of mother and daughter beginning of the lesson.
and read aloud the conversation in the lesson. The students may be asked quick questions such as
 What does Grandpa’s diary tell us?
00:10  Do you feel the diary tells us about the past?
 How do we know about the life of the people of
Stone Age?
 What is prehistory?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRgG2JS02mY (video: What is History)

Mind map and presentation The teacher can to reinforce the sources by doing the
The teacher can write the terms/words on the classification on the blackboard with the students
blackboard and explain after the students' response. 00:45 drawing the flow chart simultaneously in their
notebooks.

Students can study in pairs the different sources

of history.
00:20

Recommended activity The teacher can share stories of ordinary Indian citizens
who make a change in their community/town/village like
00:10 Mrs Rajani Paranjpe who has started ‘Doorstep School’.
She takes her school wherever the children are—
pavements, construction sites, outside big markets,
railway stations, and so on.
(sourced from 'The Better India', article by Shreya Pareek,
Dec, 2014)

Moving from the known to unknown; Show students Independent working time Students can read the
the Ashoka Chakra in the national flag, the national section of case study (Ashoka) silently and mark words
emblem, coins, and so on. and phrases which require explanation.
Brief idea of Ashoka’s change of mind after Kalinga 00:15
war, his great deeds, concern for people and spread of
Buddha’s teachings by way of edicts and inscriptions
can be explained to the students.

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Remedial Teaching
A quick review will help to assess how far the students
have understood. Then whatever requires further
clarification can be explained using the blackboard.
Support learning with pictures and additional information
about rock, pillar edicts of Ashoka.
Focus on how to analyse and interpret paintings (cave
paintings).
Brain-teasers:
Emperor Ashoka ruled from 268 to 232 BCE.
He was almost forgotten till about 1850s when the rock
edicts were linked to him and the script was deciphered.
Students can have a group discussion and write down their
conclusions as a group report.
Students can have an open discussion of each other’s views.
The teacher can guide the course of the discussion and
sum up.
Reinforcement can be done through textual exercises.
For map work, you may refer to the text.
Review questions such as the following could be
asked to assess the students’ understanding:
 What was the religion that spread to different parts
00:20 of Asia during Ashoka’s time?
 Why did Ashoka give up war?
 He devoted his life to spread the message of
…………….. and …………….. .
 Why do you think that people did not know about
Ashoka till the 20th century?
 What are the evidences that brought to light the
greatness of Ashoka?
Efforts of William Jones and James Prinsep (their
interest in deciphering Brahmi script can be explained
00:45 to the students.);
Emphasise the value of research and importance
of artefacts and pottery pieces in constructing the
history of the period when written records were not
there (Stone Age).
Conduct a quiz programme. Let the students frame
questions relevant to the topic.
00:05
Each group can present their views to the class.
The teacher can direct the discussion in such a manner
so as to bring out the importance of documenting the
00:20 important events in a country/kingdom such as wars,
laws, reforms, govt measures, and so on.
A thorough discussion of the text questions is required.
00:20 The work has to be completed as home assignment.
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Recommended fun project:
Any one project can be chosen depending on the
accessibility and aptitude of the students; project
presentation and review can be taken after a
week’s time.
00:20
 Visit a museum if one is nearby/get hold of a
 Each student can get two family members to talk
about/describe (the same) an important family
event (from the past).
Students can compare the two versions and
write their own version.
They can share in the class on how each person
has a different way of looking at a thing.
person who collects coins and know about old
coins/visit an old temple/fort.
Make a presentation as a group activity about
the historical facts. Mention the type of source,
how difficult it was to understand and analyse
the information presented.

00:15 ICT

Cave paintings

Ramayan
What is Artefacts Potsheeds
Literary History
Mahabarat
New Stone Age
Tirukkural Tools
Old Stone Age
Tholkappiam

Silapadigaram