Year 8: Three-year Scheme of Work Half-term: Summer 1 Unit title: The American Civil War (Alternative to The British Empire) Weeks 27–28 Enquiry question: What caused the American Civil War? Content details Links to Edexcel GCSE (9–1) History Progression scale focus Target understanding for all students Additional understanding for some students Extra stretch understanding End of half-term assessment will cover Week 27 Background – US expansion across North America: * Farming – Louisiana Purchase * Conquest – Mexican-American War * Resources – Gold Rush, 1849 * British America, 1713–1783 * The American West, Background to * The USA, Chronology Target Step 6 Stretch to Step 7 Chronology Step 6: Learners are increasingly confident in placing a new period or topic within their own chronological reference and are beginning to make links between periods that they have studied. Chronology Step 6: Learners’ timelines and other work show an appreciation of the different scales of time and how they fit together. Causation and consequence Step 6: Learners can link categories of causes to form a simple causal picture and begin to Chronology Step 7: Learners are beginning to make assumptions about periods because of knowledge that they already have (e.g. ‘was everyone a Catholic because this was before the Reformation?’). Causation and consequence Step 7: Learners are becoming confident in forming a causal picture using information that they are given and can construct a sound explanation of why something happened. Evidence Step 7: Learners can make Chronology Step 7: Learners are confident when approaching new historical periods or contexts and increasingly have their own simple chronological picture into which they can place new knowledge, although they may still need some support. Week 28 * Differences between Northern and Southern economies * Argument over slavery – Missouri Compromise and Kansas Nebraska Act * Events leading to war – Dred Scott case and John Brown’s raid * Lincoln’s election * British America, 1713–1783 * The American West, Background to * The USA, Evidence Target Step 6 Stretch to Step 7 Causation and consequence Target Step 6 Stretch to Step 7
explain why something happened in history. Causation and consequence Step 6: Learners may be starting to use simple knowledge of the event or period to back up their causal statements. Evidence Step 6: Learners can use a small group of sources together to make simple inferences and present this as evidence. supported inferences about the past by using a source and the detail contained within it.
Weeks 29–30 Enquiry question: Why did the North defeat the South? Week 29 * Formation of the Confederacy * Situation at the start of the war: strengths of North and South * Key battles and outcomes * British America, 1713–1783 * The American West, c1835–c1895 Background to * The USA, Causation and consequence Target Step 6 Stretch to Step 7 Causation and consequence Step 6: Learners can link categories of causes to form a simple causal picture and begin to explain why something happened in history, though may be over-reliant on the agency of historical figures. (Reinforced) Causation and consequence Step 6: Learners may be starting to use simple knowledge of the event or period to back up their causal statements. (Reinforced) Causation and consequence Step 6: Learners understand that events have consequences as well as causes and can describe, in simple terms, one or more of the consequences of an event or development. Causation and consequence Step 7: Learners are becoming confident in forming a causal picture using information that they are given and can construct a sound explanation of why something happened. Causation and consequence Step 7: Learners may be starting to prioritise some causes as more important than others, but the explanation or reasoning behind this remains weak. Causation and consequence Step 7: Learners are beginning to be more selective when deploying historical knowledge, although this may be patchy. Causation and consequence Step 8: Learners can explain why events had certain consequences and begin to recognise that one cause may have multiple or conflicting consequences. Week 30 * Causes of Union victory * Leadership during the American Civil War: Lee and Grant * Significance of Emancipation Proclamation & Gettysburg Address * British America, 1713–1783 * The American West, c1835–c1895 Background to * The USA, Causation and consequence Target Step 6 Stretch to Step 7 Stretch to Step 8 Weeks 31–32 Enquiry question: What were the consequences of the American Civil War?