BBC Teach | 'Significant Individuals' Primary History

Mosaic Films has produced twelve fun and factual BBC Teach animated shorts to be used for KS1 and KS2 History teaching in the classroom.

Each episode focuses on an individual or pair of individuals from different eras, using colourful illustration and humour to underline key elements of the UK curriculum.

The six KS1-specific films compare two significant individuals in history, helping to ‘compare and contrast’ their lives and their different time periods through narration. Both the films and Mosaic’s detailed lesson plans help establish important vocabulary for the age group, with the subjects varied across different times, places and arenas of life: the monarchs Elizabeth I and II, the innovators William Caxton and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the artists Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo, the activists Emily Davison and Rosa Parks, the explorers Matthew Henson and Neil Armstrong, and the mathematicians Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing.

The six KS2-specific films focus on different individuals, each film using first-person narration. This format was used to reflect a key takeaway for the KS2 age group: that history is made up of individuals who took action, led by their own beliefs and biases. Accompanied with teachers notes prepared by Mosaic Films, the films explore the lives of the poet Robert Burns, the politician Aneurin Bevan, the rebel queen Boudica, the mathematician Katherine Johnson, the WW2 spy Noor Inayat Khan and the environmental activist Wangari Maathai.

These animations can be viewed (by UK users) on BBC Teach’s website here.

Credits

Writer: Dan England
Producer: Elisabeth Watts
Animation Producer: Natalia Pérez
Executive Producer: Andy Glynne
KS1 Director and Head of Animation: Lilian Fu
KS2 Director and Head of Animation: David Restrepo
Sound Designer: Dave Malkin
Educational Consultant: Lucy Marcovitch
Special Thanks to: Gemma Earle