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Year 10
AQA

The White Tower: structuring your answer to the historic environment question

I can understand ways to approach the 16-mark historic environment question.

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New
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Year 10
AQA

The White Tower: structuring your answer to the historic environment question

I can understand ways to approach the 16-mark historic environment question.

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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The question will ask about either change, continuity, cause or consequence.
  2. Arguments about change, continuity, cause or consequence should be backed up with relevant evidence.
  3. The question will provide one factor to consider, to which you should add two more alternatives.
  4. Planning your answer helps to achieve a sustained judgement.
  5. It is always important to use specific knowledge about your historic environment in your answer.

Keywords

  • Second order concepts - ways in which questions about history are shaped

  • Continuity - when something continues without changing

  • Causation - why something happens, what its causes are

  • Consequence - the results or impacts of something

Common misconception

Students commonly do not provide enough detail from their historic environment in their answers.

Try to back up your analysis of the question with specific facts and details from your historic environment.


To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: The White Tower: structuring your answer to the historic environment question, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

To help students understand how the historic environment question works, give them the task of coming up with historic environment questions of their own, which they could then swap with a partner and answer.
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Teacher tip
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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
A direct or first-hand piece of evidence from the past is known as a source.
Correct answer: contemporary
old-fashioned
modern
complimentary
Q2.
What are two limitations of Domesday Book as a historical source for Norman England?
Correct answer: It does not cover all regions of England.
It contains data about the population of England at the time.
Correct answer: The records are difficult to interpret.
It shows the impact of the Norman Conquest on England.
Q3.
The most famous visual source for Norman England is ...
Correct Answer: the Bayeux Tapestry, Bayeux Tapestry
Q4.
Which Norman priest wrote 'Gesta Guillelmi’ in the 1070s?
William de Warenne
William of Normandy
Correct answer: William of Poitiers
William II of Normandy
Q5.
A limitation of 'the Gesta' is it is - it does not consider the English perspective on the invasion at all.
Correct Answer: one-sided, biased, unfair, limited
Q6.
Material Norman sources such as castles and cathedrals are often built in the architectural style, which looked back to the architecture of ancient Rome.
Correct Answer: Romanesque

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the term to the correct definition.
Correct Answer:second order concepts,ways in which questions about history are shaped
tick

ways in which questions about history are shaped

Correct Answer:continuity,when something continues without changing
tick

when something continues without changing

Correct Answer:causation,why something happens, what its causes are
tick

why something happens, what its causes are

Correct Answer:consequence,the results or impacts of something
tick

the results or impacts of something

Q2.
To be convincing, historians need to use to back up their claims.
Correct Answer: evidence, sources, facts
Q3.
When discussing a historical topic, what type of argument do historians use if they disagree with another historian’s interpretation?
traditional
Correct answer: alternative
unconventional
safe
Q4.
In the 16-mark historical environment question, which of the following will you be asked to use in your answer?
the views of historians
contextual knowledge
inference from sources provided in a separate booklet
the views of your teacher
Q5.
At the end of the 16-mark question, you need to remember to make an overall ...
Correct Answer: judgement, conclusion
Q6.
The best answers will the judgement throughout the 16-mark answer, which means keep it going throughout your answer.
Correct Answer: sustain, maintain