Streetks3 Classroom Activities

Democracy

StreetKS3 classroom activities

Democracy Street can be used in the classroom to get your students thinking aboutconnections between Parliament and their localarea.

Use the suggestions in thispack to get started!

Discovera parliamentarian

1. Find a street

Use theDemocracy Streetapp todiscover streets that share a name with someone who isconnected withParliament(aparliamentarian),in the areaaround your school.

2. Research

Ask your students to do someresearchon this parliamentarian.They mightwantto find out:

Whatwas this person’s role?E.g.were theyaMember ofParliamentor a memberofthe House of Lords?

 Which yearsdid they spendworking atParliament?

Whatwas happeningin Parliament during those years?For example,did Parliamentpass any historic new laws (Acts) thatare significant today?You might like to think about laws that gave voting rights tomore people or improved rights for ethnic minorities orintroduced welfare reform.

Did the parliamentarianhave aconnection toyour localarea? Did they ever live there orattend an important event there?

 Are there anyotherinteresting factsabouttheirlifeand work?

To help yourstudents,the app contains detailed information aboutfourhundred peoplewhohave streetsnamed after them. They can alsofind information onour partners’ websites (see the links under‘supporting information’below)or do some additional research online.

3. Create a factfile

Ask students to createafact file about the parliamentarian, containing key pieces of information from their research.

4. Considerthe evidence

Getyourstudentsthinking aboutthe evidence they have used in their factfile. What sources didthey use to find out aboutthe Member ofParliament? Did they use the information in the app?Orperhaps they used anotherwebsite?

Ask themtothink abouthowwe know about the lives offigures fromthe past. How can they be sure that their information is correct?And was thereany information they couldn’t discover?

Someofthe streetsinthe app share aname witha politician,e.g.Castle Street shares a namewithBarbaraCastle,however,there isn’t always a connection between the politicianand the street.Do yourstudents think theirlocal streetwas named after aparliamentarian ordo they think the streetname has a differentorigin?

Studentscould discuss theirfindings in small groups and then present what they learned tothe restofthe class.

5. Find a localhero

Ask your studentsto do someresearch to find outwhetherthereare any nearby streets named after local figureswho broughtaboutchangeforpeople living in the area.Whowerethey and whatdidthey achieve?Why was a streetnamed after them?Studentscould write ashortbiography oftheir chosen figure,exploring their connectiontothe localarea.

6. Name a street

Ifyour students could name a streetafteranyone, who wouldthey nominate?And why?

Challenge

Setyour studentsthe challenge offinding a streetwithademocratic link in theirlocal area– or further afield ifthey want to–that isn’tlisted on the app.Do they pass any streets on the way to schoolwith an interesting history?Or can they find any by

doing some research?

Ifyou do findany missed streets you can email ndthey will be added to the map.

Getyourstreeton themap!

Follow these quick andeasy steps:

1.Finda street in yourneighbourhood thatrelatestodemocracy.

2.Go to thestreet, take apicture ofthe streetsignor ofsomething thatyou connect withthe streetname.Ask yourschoolto upload ittotheirsocial media channels (e.g. Twitter)using the hashtag #DemocracySt.

3.Artist Jon Adamsmay use yourimages as partofnew artworksthat will be displayed in Parliamentfrom16 –22 Novemberduring ParliamentWeek 2015.

Resourcesforresearch

Search the National Archives collections for records of historical figures with streets named after them: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

 Search the National Portrait Gallery’scollections forportraits for key figures:

 Find out about former Prime Ministersat GOV.UK:

 Browsebiographies offormerMembersofParliamentattheHistoryof

Parliament Online:

 Discover the living heritageofParliament: