Title of the resource
Title of the resource in english
Publisher
Core Knowledge UK
Original language
Target and Age Group
Primary school (7-8 year olds), year 3 in the UK education system, part of the national curriculum for history.
Link to resource
The link is to the whole ancient Greece Module, 5 lesson plans.
coreknowledge.org.uk/resources
Author of the Entry:
Ayelet Peer, Bar- Ilan University, ayelet.peer@biu.ac.il
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il
Second Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Daniel A. Nkemleke, University of Yaoundé 1, nkemlekedan@yahoo.com
Core Knowledge
Core Knowledge UK
The Core Knowledge Foundation is a nonprofit organization from Charlottesville, Virginia, which was founded in 1986 by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. The foundation offers open access curricula to schools, teachers, parents.
https://www.coreknowledge.org/about-us/
Accessed September 30, 2020.
Contents & Purpose
The aim of this lesson plan is to introduce the city-state of Sparta and its tough military regime
Further comments
The title of this lesson is Rough, Tough Sparta which indicates its purpose but also provides a preliminary impression on Spartan society even before the lesson has begun. The students are probably a bit familiar with some stories about rough Spartan society and this lesson perpetuates the rigidness of that society, especially in comparison with Athens.
This lesson offers an adapted story from The Story of the Greeks by H. A. Guerber. It follows the life of a Spartan boy and his daily training regime. The story accentuates the difficult training for Spartan boys which can result in death. Hence it makes the Spartan appear almost as inhuman.
The teachers are advised to discuss the story with the students, write a diary entry as the boy or a reenactment.
In the “Activities for Learning” section, there are links to videos about the Spartan army from Horrible histories. We should remember that these are satirical videos which make a bit of fun of the strict Spartan society. For example, “Horrible Histories - Spartan High School Musical” emphasizes the physical punishment used in Spartan education and mocks it. There is no direct reference to a video from 300 movie (perhaps due to copyright issue?), although the beginning of the movie shows a very vivid reenactment of Spartan agoge.
