Why did Britain's population 'explode' from 1750 - 1900?

These resources have been designed to help students studying the historical controversy surrounding why Britain’s population increased from 1750 - 1900. They can be used with the full spectrum of ability as they include a range of tasks and activities which can be selected in whole or part to suit your classes.

When you purchase this lesson you will be able to download a worksheet, PowerPoint and a card sort. There is enough work to fully engage a normal class of students for two lessons.

The PowerPoint facilitates the lesson and includes aims, objectives, differentiated outcomes, a snowballing starter or an alternative picture activity. The next section explains the historical controversy and sets up the task for the first lesson using the worksheet. The next part prepares students for the card sort. This is followed up with an optional assessment activity with pupil mark scheme and feedback sheet which can be easily adapted for your school’s assessment criteria.

The worksheet, includes an introduction which sets the scene and five sources that look at the issues of why Britain’s population increased. The first question gets students to summarise what they can learn from each source about why the population increased, whilst the follow up questions look deeper into the underlying causes and get students to compare and contrast them. The final question sets the scene for the next topic by getting students to draw up a list of the pros and cons of an expanding population.

The card sort includes 14 headings which need to be matched with 14 statements to explain why the ‘birth’ rate increased and the ‘death’ rate decreased. There are follow up tasks that can be used to help students do the assessment task if you wish.

The aims and objectives for this lesson are:

Theme: Why did Britain have an industrial revolution 1750 - 1900?
Know: Why did Britain’s population increased from 1750 - 1900?
Understand: What factors caused this change?
Evaluate: How far was the population increase due to a decline in the death rate?

WILF: What Am I Looking For?
Identify and describe: Why the population increased in size?
Explain: What factors caused this change?
Analyse: Make a judgement on how far the increase was due to an increase in the birth rate.

If you like this resource then why not check out my other resources on this topic in my TES shop. You can also follow ‘The History Academy’ on Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube and Facebook for the latest updates or even to get in touch and chat about how you have used this resource or to ask questions. We aim to produce cheap and affordable resources for either the price of a good cup of coffee or a happy meal so that you can spend more time doing the things that you want.

Kind Regards

Roy