Comparing Past and Present

Overview

This 60-minute lesson encourages Year 3 students to explore and compare photographs, clothing, and toys from different time periods, focusing on how children’s development and play have changed or remained constant. The lesson is designed in strict alignment with the Irish Primary Curriculum (IE Curriculum), specifically addressing strands from History and Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE), embedded with literacy and critical thinking using Bloom’s Taxonomy.

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Curriculum Links

Primary Curriculum (IE) Reference:

• History: Strand Unit: Myself and Others – Exploring how people live and change over time
• Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE): Myself and others – Developing self-awareness and empathy
• English: Developing oral language skills through discussion and description

Key Competencies:

• Critical thinking and analysis
• Empathy and cultural awareness
• Communication and presenting ideas
• Collaboration and social skills

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Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

Remembering

• Identify key characteristics of toys, clothes, and photographs from different time periods.

Understanding

• Explain how children’s clothes or toys have changed over time and what has remained the same.

Applying

• Match toys or clothing images with the correct time period using clues from the photographs.

Analysing

• Compare two photographs or toys to identify differences and similarities and infer reasons for changes.

Evaluating

• Discuss which toys or clothes they think were more popular or useful in different eras and justify their opinions.

Creating

• Design a simple drawing or collage illustrating toys or clothes they think would be popular in the future, explaining their choices.

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Materials Needed

• Printed or projected photographs of children and toys from at least two time periods (e.g., 1950s and today)
• Images or samples of children’s clothing from different decades
• Worksheets with comparison charts
• Paper, crayons, coloured pencils, scissors, glue for art activity
• Whiteboard and markers

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Lesson Structure

1. Introduction (10 minutes)

• Begin with a lively whole-class discussion: “What do you remember about your favourite toy or favourite clothes to wear? What did your parents or grandparents play with or wear as children?”
• Display two contrasting photographs of children’s toys and clothing from different generations. Model simple observations (e.g., “This toy is made of wood, that one is plastic”).
• Introduce the learning objectives using child-friendly language, highlighting the idea of noticing what has stayed the same and what has changed through time.

2. Remember & Understand Activity (10 minutes)

• Hand out sets of photographs or images of clothes and toys.
• Students work in pairs to identify and label pictures according to ‘old’ or ‘new’.
• Class discussion reviewing answers with teacher guidance to explain reasons for categorisation.

3. Apply & Analyse Activity (15 minutes)

• Worksheet task: Students compare two selected items (e.g., a teddy bear from 1950s and a modern one) and fill in a comparison chart under ‘Similarities’ and ‘Differences’.
• Encourage using sentence starters: “Both toys…”; “The old toy is…”; “The new toy has…”
• In small groups, discuss their findings and share which aspects surprised them the most.

4. Evaluate (10 minutes)

• Open class discussion: “Which toys or clothes do you think children liked the most and why?”
• Prompt students to give reasons based on features like colours, materials, comfort, or play value.
• Introduce simple criteria for ‘popularity’ or ‘usefulness’ and guide students to give evidence-based opinions.

5. Create (10 minutes)

• Creative art activity: children design their own toy or outfit that they think would be popular in the future.
• They illustrate their invention on paper and write a sentence explaining why it will be popular or how it will help children.
• Volunteers share their creations with the class.

6. Plenary & Assessment (5 minutes)

• Recap learned concepts orally. Quick-fire quiz: Teacher asks short questions, e.g., “Name one thing that has NOT changed.”
• Collect worksheets and art creations to assess understanding across Bloom’s levels.
• Give positive feedback and highlight curiosity and observation skills demonstrated.

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Differentiation and Inclusion

• Provide printed worksheets with pictures for visual learners and sentence frames for students with emerging literacy skills.
• Pair confident students with peers who may need extra support during group activities.
• Use real objects where available for tactile learners.
• Allow students to express creatively in ways comfortable for them, including oral explanation if writing is difficult.

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Reflection for Teacher

After the lesson, reflect on these points:

• Were students able to talk about differences and similarities confidently?
• Did the art activity help consolidate understanding in a creative way?
• Were all cognitive levels engaged effectively?
• How well did students connect historical changes to their own experiences?

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By carefully blending history, social learning, and creative expression, this lesson provides a rich, multi-dimensional approach closely aligned with the Ireland curriculum’s goals for developing young learners’ understanding of change over time while building key competencies.