School topics · Teacher guide and download · CfE Second Level · P5–P7
Plan an evidence-led enquiry into Roman Scotland with four practical activities and a ten-page editable teaching pack. The resource combines Social Studies, literacy, drama, STEM and numeracy.
Download the teaching pack
Download the teaching pack (Word document, 10 pages, 54 KB)
The pack contains four timed lessons, support and extension options, two pupil sheets, teacher answers, enquiry questions and historical notes.
Curriculum connections
These are concise planning summaries, not quotations from the official Experiences and Outcomes.
| Outcome | Learning in this series |
|---|---|
| SOC 2-01a | Select sources and support historical claims. |
| SOC 2-02a | Use evidence to develop chronology and understanding of heritage. |
| SOC 2-03a | Investigate a Scottish theme and its effects. |
| SOC 2-04a | Compare past life with life today. |
| SOC 2-06a | Explain significance within a historical sequence. |
Further links include ENG 2-31a for imaginative writing, EXA 2-14a for drama, TCH 2-09a for model design and MTH 2-17d for scale. Activities contribute to these outcomes; one topic does not demonstrate attainment of a whole level.
Learning intentions and success criteria
1. Use evidence to investigate Roman Scotland
- I can describe two features of an artefact.
- I can support an idea using an object record and a modern source.
- I can explain something the evidence cannot tell me.
2. Compare lives on the frontier
- I can compare a soldier’s life with a local young person’s life.
- I can make a comparison with my own life.
- I can distinguish supported details from imaginative choices.
3. Explain how Roman activity changed
- I can order three events and locate three sites.
- I can explain the purpose of a road or frontier using a map or model.
- I can explain why an invasion is not permanent control.
Suggested teaching sequence
- Who lived here before the Romans?
- Life on the Antonine Wall
- Roman campaigns and engineering
- Everyday life, trade and withdrawal
Support every learner
Offer paired reading, enlarged images, oral responses, audio diaries, scribing and labelled drawings. Use the support, core and extension options flexibly. Assess historical understanding separately from spelling or confidence in performing.
Three questions to return to
- Did the Romans really fail in Scotland?
- Whose story would we miss if we only listened to Roman voices?
- Could a frontier divide people and connect them at the same time?
A three-minute exit ticket
- One claim I can support is… My evidence is…
- One thing we are less certain about is…
- The Romans occupied parts of Scotland, but…
Group responses by secure understanding, unsupported claims and misconceptions. Use one anonymous example to launch the next lesson.
Keep the history accurate
Explain that Scotland is a modern geographical label here; local communities did not form a single Scottish nation. Brochs were not everybody’s home. Cramond and Trimontium were not forts on the Antonine Wall. Mons Graupius has no confirmed location, and Roman withdrawal happened in several phases. Imagined diaries and classroom models are interpretations.
Images and visits
Use museum object photographs with their captions and credits. Preview carved battle scenes before showing them to pupils. The school resources directory links to museum learning and handling resources; check providers for current arrangements.
Evidence and further exploration
- Education Scotland Experiences and Outcomes
- National Museums Scotland: history and maps
- Antonine Wall: building the frontier
- Antonine Wall: personal belongings
- Antonine Wall: distance stones
- National Museums Scotland: the Eildon Hills and contact
