© BBC

TARDIS MEDIA TEAM

10-14 YEAR OLDS

THEME: CHILDHOOD

© BBC

Theme: Childhood

This approach, known as the TARDIS Media Team, is intended for students in upper

primary education or lower secondary school (10-14 years old). Students take on the role

of a media team who travel back in time to 1605 to report on what childhood was like at

that time. They will use modern journalistic style and the task will allow them to take a

personal approach in their learning while encouraging greater independence.

The approach is organised into four main learning questions which will be answered

through game play as well as investigation and inquiry through classroom activities.

These are followed by a Concluding Activity, to allow the students to demonstrate their

acquired learning across the four main questions.

The four main learning questions are:1. What clothing did children wear in the 1600s?

2. What were the main causes of ill health and what medicine was available in the 1600s?

3. What was school like in the 1600s, and who attended?

4. What did children do for fun and what toys and games were available in the 1600s?

Historical references and key objects are woven throughout the game, and students

should be encouraged to complete notebook pages about the characters and historical

objects they encounter in the game. Notebook resource sheets are supplied at the end

of this part of the pack.

Aims and ObjectivesLower age-groupThe students will gain an understanding of childhood in the 1600s, including clothing, toys

and games, education and health and draw comparisons with their life in modern Britain.

Upper age-groupThe students will gain an understanding of childhood in the 1600s, including clothing, toys

and games, education and health, and the differences in life experience and opportunities

for the rich compared with the poor. Students will be encouraged to draw comparisons

with their own life in modern Britain. They will also be helped to develop their ability to

research, analyse and evaluate historical data in order to develop their own interpretations

of the past and historical skills.

Supporting ResourcesHistorical Objects, Characters and Environments of particular relevance to the main

learning questions are clearly indicated and these can be used to support the activities.

These and other supporting resources are available to download from bbc.co.uk/teachers

Downloading the gameBefore starting this unit of work, the Gunpowder Plot Adventure Game should

be downloaded from bbc.co.uk/doctorwho

Instructions on how to do so are available in

the The Adventure Games Help section.

It is suitable for both PC and Mac platforms.

© BBC

1. What clothing did children wear in the 1600s?

GAME PLAYThroughout this unit, the students should be encouraged to play Act I of the game

up to the point where Amy, Rory and the Doctor return to the TARDIS.

Most of the information the students will need for this unit of learning is contained in

conversations with the townspeople and through examining the identified objects. These

conversations take place in the interactive scene immediately after the following dialogue:

Doctor Come on Pond, let’s go and find the word on the smelly street.

While playing the game, the students should be encouraged to complete their notebook

pages with information about characters and historical objects, particularly those that

provide them with information about Charlie, Annie and clothing from the time.

ACTIVITIES

MISSING BOY

Learning OutcomeStudents will develop their factual knowledge of the historical period and develop

their ability to research and assimilate information from a wide variety of source

material in order to describe the main features of dress and clothing of the period.

They will also be able to identify how the use of different tones in speech can reveal

information about people in the past and how to interrogate source material to

extract the maximum amount of information.

TaskDuring Act I of the game, Charlie does not appear and it is mentioned that he has

not been seen for a short while. Students create a news report about the missing

boy, Charlie. Their report should include interviews with characters from the game

who are witnesses. The report can be in the form of a TV report or newspaper article.

Particular focus should be placed on the description of Charlie and what he is wearing

and also to the dress and clothing of the different witnesses interviewed. Students can

use the Storyboard Resource Sheet to help organise information for their news report.

To assist the students in this task, recap on conversations from the game which

mentioned Charlie. Discuss whether rich and poor see him in the same way. Discuss

images of characters from the game and the features of their clothing. Characters of

particular interest include Lady Winters, Guy Fawkes, Alice Flowers, Barnaby, Charlie

and the Town Crier.

OrganisationThis can be an individual or small group activity.

Resources• Characters: Lady Winter, Guy Fawkes, Barnaby,

Charlie, Alice Flowers, Town Crier

• Historical Objects: Breeches, Swaddling Cloth

• Resource Sheet 1: Storyboard

• Resource Sheet 2: Newspaper Template

© BBC

FASHION ARTICLES

Learning OutcomeStudents will be able to describe the differences between the clothing of the rich and

the poor, and of adults and children. They will also gain understanding of the importance

of clothing as a statement of wealth and social position and how this relates to the

importance of patronage which begins with the King and cascades throughout society.

Through class discussion, they will learn how this affects the reliability of using clothes

to assess how rich people were and whether there is a disparity between how people

appear and their actual wealth.

TaskStudents should create a magazine style fashion article with comments from fashion

editors and stylists. Each student or small group should be allocated a different

character to dress. These should be a variety of rich and poor people, as well as adults

and children. The attire of the characters from the game should be used as a starting

point for research into clothing of the period. Additional research can be carried out

by examining the Historical Objects of Breeches and Swaddling Cloth. Students can

use the template in the Fashion Article Resource Sheet to help them present their

work. The finished articles should be shared with the class and then gathered together

to form a magazine.

OrganisationThis can be an individual or small group activity.

Resources• Characters: Lady Winter, Guy Fawkes, Barnaby, Charlie, Alice Flowers, Town Crier,

Jacobean Londoners

• Historical Objects: Breeches, Swaddling Cloth, Princess Elizabeth, Sir Francis Drake,

Portrait of King James I

• Resource Sheet 3: Fashion Article

2. What were the main causes of ill health and what medicinewas available in the 1600s?

GAME PLAYThroughout this unit, the students should be encouraged to play Act I of the game

up to the point where Amy, Rory and the Doctor return to the TARDIS.

Some of the information the students will need for this unit of learning is contained

in conversations with the townspeople, and through examining the identified objects.

These conversations take place in the interactive scene immediately after the

following dialogue:

Doctor Come on Pond, let’s go and find the word on the smelly street.

While playing the game, the students should be encouraged to complete their notebook

pages with information about characters and historical objects, particularly those that

give information about ill health and medicine. They should also play the herb-mixing

task with Alice Flowers.

ACTIVITIES

PUBLIC HEALTH

Learning OutcomeStudents will learn about the major disease of the period, its cause and spread, the

associated symptoms and the impact on the health of the population. They should

be able to understand the attitudes of people in the past within the context of the time.

TaskThe time period, the major features of dress and clothing and insight into the differences

in life experience and opportunities for the rich compared with the poor have all been

established, and so the students can now investigate the issues relating to public health.

As a class, discuss what they have already learned about health from playing the game.

Recap on conversations with the characters (Barnaby, Town Crier and Alice Flowers) who

mention health issues. Students should investigate the Historical Objects of the Black Rat,

Chamber Pot and Well as a starting point for research. Using this information, the students

can start to identify how disease spread through the population and discover the impact

disease had on daily life. Using modern journalistic style, students can now create a news

report on an outbreak of Plague or Flux.This can be done in the form of a role play,

a TV news report or a newspaper article. Students can use the Storyboard Resource Sheet

or the Newspaper Template Resource Sheet to support this activity. These news reports

should cover details about the disease, the symptoms and the reaction of the people to the

news of the outbreak. Despite using a modern style, the report should reflect attitudes of

the time, which will include information about how people at the time felt the disease was

spread. As part of an interview with a stranger (eg the Doctor or Amy), modern views can

be included as hints or observations from the editor. Students could add comments about

whether people would have believed their views at the time.

OrganisationThe students should be split into small working groups to create their news stories.

Resources• Historical Objects: Black Rat, Chamber Pot, Well

• Resource Sheet 1: Storyboard

• Resource Sheet 2: Newspaper Template

© BBC

© BBC

2. What were the main causes of ill health and what medicinewas available in the 1600s?

GAME PLAYThroughout this unit, the students should be encouraged to play Act I of the game

up to the point where Amy, Rory and the Doctor return to the TARDIS.

Some of the information the students will need for this unit of learning is contained in

conversations with the townspeople, and through examining the identified objects. These

conversations take place in the interactive scene immediately after the following dialogue:

Doctor Come on Pond, let’s go and find the word on the smelly street.

While playing the game, the students should be encouraged to complete their notebook

pages with information about characters and historical objects, particularly those that

give information about ill health and medicine. They should also play the herb-mixing

task with Alice Flowers.

ACTIVITY

PUBLIC HEALTH

Learning OutcomeStudents will learn about the major disease of the period, its cause and spread, the

associated symptoms and the impact on the health of the population. They should

be able to understand the attitudes of people in the past within the context of the time.

The time period, the major features of dress and clothing and insight into the differences

in life experience and opportunities for the rich compared with the poor have all been

established, and so the students can now investigate the issues relating to public health.

As a class, discuss what they have already learned about health

from playing the game. Recap on conversations with the characters

(Barnaby, the Town Crier and Alice Flowers) who mention health

issues. Students should investigate the Historical Objects of the

Black Rat, Chamber Pot and Well as a starting point for research.

Using this information, the students can start to identify how

disease spread through the population and discover the impact

disease had on daily life. Using modern journalistic style, students

can now create a news report on an outbreak of Plague or Flux.

This can be done in the form of a role play, a TV news report or a

newspaper

article.

Students

can use

the

Storyboard Resource Sheet or

the Newspaper Template

HEALTH PHONE-IN

Learning OutcomeStudents will learn about the nature, availability and limited effectiveness of medical

care in the 17th century and compare it with their experience today.

TaskThe students have established the main causes and impact of disease and how it was

spread, and so can now investigate the medical care that was available at the time.

Students should use the Historical Objects of Leeches and Deadly Nightshade as

a starting point for research into medicine of the period. The herb-mixing task should

be played, and conversations with Alice Flowers about herbalism and health should be

revisited in order to provide more insight into medicinal practices of the day. In groups,

the students create dramatisations of a phone-in called ‘Ask the Herbalist’ in the style

of a daytime television magazine programme. Each group should prepare two or three

calls to an expert herbalist. The herbalist should identify the illness from the symptoms

described and suggest an appropriate remedy based on medicine of the time. Students

can use the Phone-in Resource Sheet to help them prepare their sketches. These can

then be performed to the whole class. Further discussions can follow on how this

compares with how ill health and disease are treated today. They should take note that

there were physicians, surgeons, barber surgeons, and apothecaries for the very wealthy,

and housewives of the time were expected to have some knowledge of how to use

herbal remedies. Students could also discuss whether or not we can learn from history,

as today more people are reconsidering herbal cures.

OrganisationStudents should be split into small groups to complete this task.

Resources• Historical Objects: Leeches, Deadly Nightshade

• Resource Sheet 4: Phone-In

© BBC

3. What was school like in the 1600s, and who attended?

GAME PLAYThroughout this unit, the students should be encouraged to play Act I of the game

up to the point where Amy, Rory and the Doctor return to the TARDIS.

Most of the information the students will need for this unit of learning is contained

in conversations with the townspeople, and through examining the identified

objects. These conversations take place in the interactive scene immediately after

the following dialogue:

Doctor Come on Pond, let’s go and find the word on the smelly street.

While playing the game, the students should be encouraged to complete their notebook pages

with information about characters and historical objects, paying particular attention to

conversations and historical objects which give information about the schooling of the period.

ACTIVITY

SCHOOL WEBSITE DESIGN

Learning OutcomeStudents will learn about education in 1605, including the types of schooling available,

who attended school, the curriculum, behaviour and punishment. Students should be able

to identify the attitudes to education within the different sectors of society at the time,

and be aware of what elements of learning were valued most in order to compare them

with present-day attitudes.

TaskThe students have gained some understanding of daily life in 1605, including clothing,

health and the differences in life experience for the rich and the poor. They can now start

to investigate what education and schooling was available at the time. Discuss with the

students what they have learnt from playing the game regarding schooling from the time

period. As a class, revise the conversations between Amy and Barnaby about schools.

Students should then use the Historical Objects of the Horn Book and the Birch Rod

as a starting point for further research on education in 1605. Students should discuss

the importance of religious learning as part of education at this time, especially when

looking at the horn book, as they will need to include this in their code of conduct on

their website. To focus the research, the students should collate information to create

a website for either a Petty school or a Grammar school. Each website should feature

the following:

• Home PageBasic information about the school, including name, staff, pictures, contact details,

brief description.

• Curriculum PageListing the subjects taught, with some information on how they were taught.

• School Rules PageDetails of code of conduct for pupils and what punishments would be used.

• Our Pupils PageInformation about types of children who would attend the school,

including gender, social position etc.

© BBC

Students should plan their websites on the Website Planning Resource Sheet provided

and transfer the information on to a suitable software package. If the necessary technology

is not available, then the website can remain in its paper form. Each group’s website should

be shared with the rest of the class. The websites can then be compared with the websites

of modern schools. Discussion on the similarities and differences between schools in 1605

and present day can then follow.

OrganisationStudents should be split into small groups to complete this task.

Resource• Historical Objects: Horn Book, Birch Rod

• Resource Sheet 5: Home Page

• Resource Sheet 6: Curriculum Page

• Resource Sheet 7: School Rules Page

• Resource Sheet 8: Our Pupils Page

© BBC

4. What did children do for fun and what toys and games wereavailable in the 1600s?

GAME PLAYThroughout this unit the students should be encouraged to play Act I of the game,

up to the point where Amy, Rory and the Doctor return to the TARDIS.

Most of the information the students will need for this unit of learning is contained in

conversations with the townspeople, and through examining the identified objects. These

conversations take place in the interactive scene immediately after the following dialogue:

Doctor Come on Pond, let’s go and find the word on the smelly street.

While playing the game, the students should be encouraged to complete their notebook

pages about characters and historical objects, particularly those that give information

about toys and games from the period.

ACTIVITY

AD CAMPAIGN

Learning OutcomeStudents will learn about leisure activities in the early 1600s and the toys and games that

were available. Students will also be able to draw comparisons with modern day toys and

games. Students should be able to identify the difference between the age at which

childhood ended and how this varied across social classes, and understand which

activities were played by adults as well as children.

TaskHaving gained an understanding of what daily life was like for children in the early 1600s,

as well as learning about their clothing, health and education, the students can now

investigate what activities were available for leisure and fun. As a starting point, students

use the Historical Objects of the Whip and Top, Nine Men’s Morris Board, and the

Football to research what toys and games were played in 1605. In groups, the students

choose a toy or a game from the period and create an advertising campaign. Their

campaigns can include a poster, newspaper adverts, a radio jingle, TV adverts, magazine

reviews, packaging etc. They also need to be very clear about the age and social class of

their audience. If required, students can use the Resource Sheets provided and should

have access to current advertising material.

The finished campaigns can be shared with the class. They produce a pitch for a future

employer in order to persuade them to offer them an apprenticeship or trainee job

in the advertising or marketing sector.

Students can then discuss the playthings from 1605 and compare and contrast them

with the array of toys, games and leisure activities available today.

OrganisationStudents should be split into groups to create advertising campaigns.

Resources• Historical Objects: Whip and Top, Nine Men’s Morris Board, Football

• Resource Sheet 9: Poster

• Resource Sheet 10: Magazine Article

© BBC

Concluding Activities

VIDEO DIARY/BLOGTo demonstrate the learning acquired in the approach of the TARDIS Media Team, students

create a ‘Day in the Life’ video diary or blog for a child in 1605.The students should state

the age, family background and gender of the child. Within their diary entry, students should

include information about health, toys and games, clothes and education.The information

should be presented in the first person as if the student is the child, and should be similar

to a personal diary entry.

PARENT SELF-HELP BOOKAs an alternative activity, students create a version of a parents’ guide on childhood. Students

could explain how children would be expected to dress, the types of toys and games that

were available, the types of school they could attend and how they should behave, as well

as include a section on childhood illnesses with potential herbal cures suggested.

Resources • TARDIS Media Team Noteboook

© BBCResource Sheet 1: Storyboard for News Broadcast

STORYBOARD FOR NEWS BROADCAST

© BBCResource Sheet 2: Newspaper Template

The Royal Times

© BBCResource Sheet 3: Magazine Fashion Article

Fashion article

© BBC© BBCResource Sheet 4: Phone-In

PHONE-IN PLANNER

Caller 1:

Herbalist:

Caller 2:

Herbalist:

Caller 3:

Herbalist:

Search

© BBC

HOME PAGE

Resource Sheet 5: Home Page

© BBCResource Sheet 6: Curriculum

SearchCURRICULUM

© BBC

SearchSCHOOL RULES

Resource Sheet 7: School Rules

© BBC

SearchOUR PUPILS

Resource Sheet 8: Our Pupils

© BBCResource Sheet 9: Poster template

© BBC

REVIEWTITLE:

Resource Sheet 10: Magazine Article

© BBC

TARDIS MEDIA TEAM NOTEBOOK

TARDIS Media Team Notebook