Welcome to the Uncovering a Discovery Teacher’s Resource Page. This “history mystery” exercise in historical thinking skills is inspired by items from the Vale of York Hoard held in the collection of the British Museum. These items are published under a CC-BY-NC-SA license granted by the Museum. Students will explore the Uncovering a Discovery Archive as “virtual interns” of the Museum in order to discern the historical significance of the find. Since the students’ task is to uncover the meaning behind these objects, very little scaffolding information is contained in the archive.
This page offers the lesson plans and resources for helping guide students through the Uncovering A Discovery Archive student site. The purpose in keeping the two separate is so that students will hopefully have a more authentic experience as “virtual interns” if they experience the archive in isolation from the scaffolding materials published in the Teacher Resources Page. While it is possible to navigate to the Uncovering A Discovery Archive from the Uncovering a Discovery site, the reverse is not true.
For a tour of how the sites work together, please watch this introductory video. To download a PDF of any resource on the page, clicking on the hyperlinked text will direct you to a fully downloadable attachment page. Each attachment page includes links to additional web resources, including a playlist of short video clips that highlight different aspects of the historical thinking process.
Lesson Plan Overview
Teacher Resources
Vale of York Hoard Objects
