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Lesson 5: Reindeer Boots Key Stage 2 & Key Stage 2: History

Investigating clothing worn by polar explorers on Scott's expeditions

Designing suitable footwear.

Early Antarctic explorers used knowledge from indigenous people who live in the Circumpolar North, in the Arctic Circle, to help them understand how to create suitable footwear for them to wear in Antarctica.

George Murray Levick, the surgeon on the Terra Nova Expedition, had boot covers made for him by local people in the northern Arctic and they were the type of footwear that these people wore themselves.

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Purpose of study:

History - Know and understand how people's lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.

Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.

Science - They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

National Curriculum Aims / Attainment Targets Activity focus

History:

  • Know and understand how people's lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
  • Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.

Science:

  • KS2 - They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.
  • Discussion of what are 'indigenous people'.
  • Investigation into the materials used in Antarctic footwear.
  • Testing insulating materials.

Science:

  • Asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them.
  • Setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests.
  • Making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers.
  • Gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions.
  • Recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables.
  • Reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions.
  • Using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions.
  • Identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes.
  • Discussion of what are 'indigenous people'.
  • Investigation into the materials used in Antarctic footwear.
  • Testing insulating materials.

Science:

Working scientifically

  • Using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.
  • Using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests.

States of matter

  • Observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C).
  • Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.
  • Discussion of what are 'indigenous people'.
  • Investigation into the materials used in Antarctic footwear.
  • Testing insulating materials.