Historic objects are at the heart of a project launched by the British Museum to tie in with the new history curriculum introduced this week.
The free online resources for teachers available from the website www.teachinghistory100.org are based on 100 museum objects, which link to lessons aimed at pupils ranging in age from five to 14.
The objects include the Sutton Hoo helmet from the British Museum, Guy Fawkes’s lantern from the Ashmolean Museum and The State Entry, a huge painting by Roderick MacKenzie from Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, to teach pupils about the British Empire.
The project, which is being supported by the Department for Education, will trace British and world history from 700,000 years ago to the present day. Other objects include a Mayan lintel, a Roman medical encyclopaedia translated into Arabic and a bronze vessel from China.
Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said: “The museum is committed to showing how object-based learning can bring history to life. This project will enable every primary and secondary school child in the country to access museum objects, from the magnificent to the mundane, which can teach us about our global history.”