Historical enquiries
What might have been on Captain Cook’s shopping list? Why did so many people move during the Age of Revolution? Why did workers protest? And had there really been a transport revolution by the mid 1800s?
Our revolutionary collection brings together a rich array of historical sources from museums and galleries across the UK to help students find out about the extraordinary people, events and ideas of the Age of Revolution. Objects, artworks, literature, archive materials and songs all combine to bring revolutionary themes and topics to life.
Each of our enquiries focuses on a key question about the Age of Revolution, and guides students through using historical sources to formulate their own answers. The enquiries include opportunities for students of all ages to:
- Frame and answer historically valid questions
- Explore different types of sources and evidence and assess their reliability
- Explore historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance
- Make historical connections and draw contrasts
- Develop historical vocabulary
Use our historical enquiries with your students, adapt them, or create your own (or students can create their own) using our guides to Using objects, artworks and other sources to find out about the past and Carrying out historical enquiries. Try our Activities for more ways to use the collection in the classroom.
All of our learning resources were authored by education specialists and historians.
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How was transport different in the past?
Compare and contrast trains, boats, bikes and air travel from 200 years ago with the present day. What has changed? What has stayed the same?
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Captain Cook’s shopping list
Find out what was on board Captain Cook’s ship to help him and his crew make their long voyage to Australia and explore a land they’d never seen before.
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A transport revolution?
Explore the inventions and discoveries that changed the way people travelled in the early 1800s and assess their impact on people’s lives.
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Migration: why did people move?
From the millions of African men, women and children stolen from their homelands and transported to the Americas, to those moving from rural Britain to the newly industrialised towns and cities, explore the pushes and pulls on the people of the Age of Revolution.
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Why did workers protest?
Interrogate banners, posters, songs and more to find out how and why workers of the past protested, and whether their demands were met.
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Abolition of the transatlantic slave trade
From the men, women and children who resisted their enslavement, to the campaigners who fought for its abolition, use a range of sources to find out who fought for the abolition of slavery and some of the tactics they used.
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A medical revolution?
It has been said that there was a medical revolution between 1775 and 1848. Do students agree? Explore the evidence and make the case.
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Innovations and the spread of ideas
How did innovations like the printing press, the penny post and the steam engine impact on the spread of ideas in the 1800s?
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Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite and the French Revolution
Was the French Revolution true to its principles of ‘Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite? Students examine the sources and evidence their answers.
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Videos: Medicine in the Age of Revolution – Part one
Use our videos, quizzes and enquiries to explore the factors which drove change in medical practice during the Age of Revolution.
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Videos: Medicine in the Age of Revolution – Part two
Use our videos, quizzes and enquiries to explore whether change in medical practice was revolutionary or evolutionary during the Age of Revolution.