Choose evidence for a question, and keep track of what it cannot tell us
What it is about
Identify what different evidence can and cannot establish.
Year 3 · 7–8 years · 30 challenges
Before you begin
- KS1 timelines, source questions and simple change/continuity.
What the class will do
- Match pairs · 8 challenges
Connect question and evidence
Read the supplied source details. Match each distinct question with the information that can answer it; some answers identify an explicit gap.
- Choose and explain · 8 challenges
What can it show?
Choose a conclusion within the supplied source’s scope. A useful source can still leave important questions unanswered.
- Sort into groups · 6 challenges
Material and message
Group the information each enquiry needs, not the whole object. Material features, a written message and their connection can all matter.
- Choose and explain · 8 challenges
Check the limits
Ask what the supplied record establishes and what would need another source. Keep a qualified claim tied to the actual evidence.
Using it in class
Everyone proposes evidence and names a limit before a representative acts. Invented sets are labelled; named records are new source summaries. Five tasks: 6–10 minutes; all 30: 35–45 with brief talk. Descriptions supply evidence; no unseen image or independent Latin reading is assumed.
Give everyone time to think and discuss before one pupil acts at the board. The class explains and confirms together; hints and explanations stay until you move on.
Use an up-to-date browser on a computer connected to a whiteboard or shared display. Touch, mouse and keyboard; optional audio and reduced motion. No pupil accounts or personal devices.
Choose from 5 challenges up to the full activity. Discussion determines the duration: you set the pace.
A look inside the activities
Match pairsInvented source set. Match each question to the source whose supplied details can answer it.
- What was the cup made from?
- Who was invited to the feast?
- What price was charged?
Match with:
- Uninscribed cup described as clay
- Receipt recording a price, with no guest name
- Invitation naming its guest, with no price
Explanation and discussion
The clay cup supplies material evidence, the invitation supplies a guest name, and the receipt supplies a price. These are the only relevant details in this invented set.
What question could none of these supplied sources answer?
The Vindolanda tablet invites Lepidina to a birthday. What can that invitation alone establish?
- Lepidina certainly attended the birthday.
- Every person at Vindolanda attended.
- An invitation was written, but attendance is not proved by it.
Explanation and discussion
The invitation is evidence of the written request. Attendance needs further evidence, and the letter does not speak for everyone at the settlement.
What other record could help investigate whether the guest attended?
Invented coin enquiry. Group the kind of evidence each question needs: material features, written message or both.
- What metal was used?
- Do different metals carry different names?
- What ruler’s name is inscribed?
Groups: Material features · Written message · Both kinds
Explanation and discussion
Metal is a material property; an inscribed name is written content. Comparing names with metals needs both. A coin can therefore support more than one kind of enquiry.
Why would putting every coin in only one permanent source category lose information?
Support a claim
Compare two accounts
Dates and periods