Was life for men, women and children in Ancient Greece very different from today?
The hook for this enquiry is a source-based activity. The children are not told anything about their new study – instead they are to act as historians who have the task of sifting and making links between various sources. The teacher has created source boxes including pictures of objects, replicas and historic sites accompanied by selected extracts from translated documents (next to copies of the original text, if possible). All sources refer to domestic life, work and education in Athens. (A creative teacher can add an ‘archaeological dig’ in a sand tray for fragments of replica items, olive stones and so on.) After discussing and recording findings and theories, the children use a period of research, referring to general world history books, to try to confirm their ideas. The teacher provides the source and sets the period in time and Greece in its place in the world. (The point is also made that there is more to Ancient Greece than Athens, but that there will be a further study late
