The Cold War in 8 Objects - Museum Lesson

This 47-slide PowerPoint begins with a Starter Activity in which the class is invited to guess the top 6 things a museum exhibition requires to be successful (this is done in the form of a Family Feud-style game). This leads to a discussion of the purposes of a good exhibition with a clear theme/concept and quality content displayed in an accessible manner. This introduces the lesson title and graduated aims (all will/most will/some will). The class is then invited to consider some key areas of the period, and an example of each is given (e.g., for example dog tags for the Vietnam war, a photograph of Kennedy and Khruschev for the Cuban Missile Crisis etc). The class then create their own exhibitions, ensuring they only select a maximum of 8 items and explain and analyse them as they relate to the period. This takes a couple of lessons. When they present, the class peer-assesses using the criteria on the sheet (which link back to the Starter Activity). The lesson aims are revisited before the lesson concludes with a plenary in which the class is invited to take on the role of “Voices of the Cold War” or “Voices of the Future” and discuss their thoughts on a range of artifacts (these are provided in one slide, but it works best if you use those that students came up with themselves in their own exhibitions). I designed this lesson for high-achieving high school students, and it works well to introduce a topic on the Cold War or to conclude it. This lesson is written in UK English.