Rule of Mao –\u00a0sweets represent ‘satisfaction’<\/strong>: Different people in the class take the role of different groups in China (e.g. woman, child, factory worker etc). All are given the same amount of sweets to start with to represent their satisfaction with the regime (although the teacher may wish to discuss whether this is appropriate). The teacher reads a series of key events relating to Mao’s rule. For each one, a different\u00a0member of the class is called upon to decide who gained and \/ or who lost out as a result, and redistribute \/ take away \/ provide sweets to the appropriate characters. The approach can even be used for a topic which doesn’t lend itself to a ‘timeline-based’ approach:<\/p>\n Consequences of World War One – sweets represent ‘success’:<\/strong>\u00a0Each person in the role-play represents a different group (e.g. women; children; medicine; technology; workers’ rights). Each one of these people as a homework exercise has to explain why THEY gained, and why somebody else LOST, as a result of World War One. In the lesson, these presentations \/ debates can take place before the rest of the class, acting as judges, allocate out the\u00a0sweets. For added sophistication, the presentations could take place in three phases: (a) Short-term effects; (b) Mid-term effects; (c) Long-term effects.<\/p>\n Five students take the role of key members of the Politburo at the end of 1922 who could feasibly have taken power after Lenin\u2019s death (Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev and Zinoviev). Prior to the lesson each one prepares a short speech explaining why they are the best person to lead the Soviet Union. In the lesson, the five candidates sit at the front of the class whilst the rest of the students form the audience. A large bag of sweets is split between the audience members and then the five campaign speeches are delivered as persuasively as possible. When the speeches are over, each member of the audience splits his or her sweets between the candidates in proportions to reflect the respective political strength of each individual, explaining their reasoning to the rest of the class as they do so. Each candidate counts the sweets they have and we record this in a spreadsheet. Then, I outline the first key event that takes place: Lenin\u2019s funeral, and in particular Trotsky\u2019s failure to attend and Stalin instead delivering the funeral oration. We discuss whose reputation will clearly benefit from this, and whose will suffer, after looking more closely at the details behind these developments in the form of primary source readings and video clips. After discussion, one student is nominated to decide who should lose sweets, how many they should lose, and who should gain them. The new numbers are added into the spreadsheet along with an explanation. This process is repeated to cover subsequent key events until Stalin is left in an unassailable position in 1929. The students then convert the spreadsheet into a graph to spot the key turning points, and categorise the key causes for Stalin\u2019s rise to provide the basis of an essay.<\/p>\n Students at the international school of Toulouse in the ‘Rise of Stalin through Sweets’ role-play<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
\nRise\u00a0of Hitler – sweets represent ‘power’<\/strong>: Sweets represent the power of different groups and individuals at the end of World War One (or, for a narrower\u00a0focus, from 1929 onwards). \u00a0The class decides how many sweets are allocated to each factor. Then as each event is considered, the class has to re-allocate sweets as appropriate until ultimately they are all in Hitler’s hands.
\nCauses of Spanish Civil War – Sweets represent ‘stability’<\/strong>: in the different areas. Timeline of events changes the distribution.<\/p>\nCase Study: The Rise of Stalin<\/h3>\n
The following case study comes from my website ActiveHistory<\/a> and the resources for it can be found here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n
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