1. Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Each week, you will be given homework that requires you to use different critical thinking skills that are often used when studying History. These assignments will usually relate closely to the topic we are studying in lesson. There are six thinking skills:
Historical Significance
Why events/people/concepts are important to history.
Continuity & Change
Examining the people/events/concepts that contributed to or prevented change.
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Historical Perspectives
The ability to consider the point of view of both modern and historic people.
Cause & Consequence
The ability to link ideas or events based on a causal relationship.
The Ethical Dimension
Examining historical enquiries through the lens of morals and ethics.

2. Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Historical Significance
Why events/people/concepts are important to history.
The first assignment will ask you to write about an event in your own life that is historically significant.
In our topic about slavery, you could employ the historical significance thinking skill in the following way.
The African slave trade involved the buying and selling of slaves from Africa to the New World in order to make new resources that could be sent to Europe. The slaves were transported on ships and forced to live in terrible conditions.

3. Write this in your planner! This assignment is due:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Historical Significance
Why events/people/concepts are important to history.
Write this in your planner!
This assignment is due:
Wednesday, 11 November at the beginning of your History Lesson.
In one well developed paragraph, respond to the following question:
What is the African Slave Trade &
why is it historically significant?

4. Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Continuity & Change
Examining the people/events/concepts that contributed to or prevented change.
This assignment will ask you to consider how the Mid Atlantic Trade Triangle changed the Americas.
Your answer must explain how the Americas (North & South) were affected by Slavery and if these changes were good or bad.
Remember, during the 16th-19th century when this was going on, the Americas were referred to as “The New World.”
This meant that prior to enslaved Africans, the industries were not well developed and trade with Europe was difficult.
Here’s a HINT

5. Write this in your planner! This assignment is due:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Continuity & Change
Examining the people/events/concepts that contributed to or prevented change.
Write this in your planner!
This assignment is due:
Wednesday, 18 November at the beginning of your History Lesson.
In one well developed paragraph, respond to the following question:
“How did the Atlantic Trade Triangle contribute to or prevent change in the Americas?”

6. In one well developed paragraph, respond to the following question:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Continuity & Change
Examining the people/events/concepts that contributed to or prevented change.
In one well developed paragraph, respond to the following question:
“How did the Atlantic Trade Triangle contribute to or prevent change in the Americas?”
The Atlantic Trade Triangle contributed to change in the Americas in a variety of ways. These changes affected the New World socially, culturally, and economically. The most obvious change was that it brought in a large number of Africans to a mostly-white population. This led to the introduction of African culture and traditions that still exist in the Americas today. As well, it helped increase wealth in the Americas. Specifically, the United States economy became much stronger because slave labour was inexpensive, and helped them to produce more goods to be traded within the Americas and with Europe.

7. The ability to link ideas or events based on a causal relationship.
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Cause & Consequence
The ability to link ideas or events based on a causal relationship.
This assignment will ask you to examine a specific event and determine its cause.
In our topic about slavery, we learned that slaves were assigned names by their owners.
Many African Americans have changed their names since the abolishment of slavery. There were many different examples of this, and people had many different reasons to make this decision.

8. Write this in your planner! This assignment is due:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Cause & Consequence
The ability to link ideas or events based on a causal relationship.
Write this in your planner!
This assignment is due:
Wednesday, 25 November at the beginning of your History Lesson.
In one well developed paragraph, research and respond to the following question:
“Who was Cassius Clay and
why did he change his name?”

9. “Who was Cassius Clay and why did he change his name?”
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Cause & Consequence
The ability to link ideas or events based on a causal relationship.
In one well developed paragraph, research and respond to the following question:
“Who was Cassius Clay and
why did he change his name?”
Cassius Clay was an American heavyweight boxer. He was world champion for a number of years in the 1900s. He changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam. Along with his religious reasons, he was encouraged to change his name as a way to leave his “slave name” behind.

10. The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
This assignment will ask you to look at a source that reveals something about slavery.
In our topic about slavery, we learned that slaves were often punished by their owners.
A historical source is anything that contains information or images about the past.
These include books, videos, diaries, maps, pictures, tools, artefacts and much more.

11. Write this in your planner! This assignment is due:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Write this in your planner!
This assignment is due:
Wednesday, 25 November at the beginning of your History Lesson.
In one well developed paragraph, analyse and explain what you can conclude about slavery from this historical source.

12. The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
In one well developed paragraph, analyse and explain what you can conclude about slavery from this historical source.
This source helps me to draw conclusions about the treatment of slaves by their owners. By noticing the marks on the back of this man, it is clear that being enslaved came with horrifying conditions. The marks on his back could be from being whipped by his owner. This could have been a punishment for refusal to work, or other forms of resistance that we learned about in lesson.

13. Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
The Ethical Dimension
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Examining historical enquiries through the lens of morals and ethics.
This assignment will ask you to consider an ethical question about slavery.
Ethics are what people use to decide what is right and what is wrong. Today, we can all agree that slavery was ethically wrong.
A number of arguments have been put forward to try and justify slavery. None of them would find much favour today, but at various times in history many people found some of these arguments entirely reasonable.

14. Write this in your planner! This assignment is due:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
The Ethical Dimension
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Examining historical enquiries through the lens of morals and ethics.
Write this in your planner!
This assignment is due:
Wednesday, 9 December at the beginning of your History Lesson.
In one well developed paragraph, agree or disagree with the following justification of slavery, and defend your opinion.
“Living in slavery is better than starving to death.”

15. This assignment will ask you to consider the perspective of a slave.
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Historical Perspectives
Evidence
The Ethical Dimension
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
Examining historical enquiries through the lens of morals and ethics.
The ability to consider the point of view of both modern and historic people.
This assignment will ask you to consider the perspective of a slave.
So far, you’ve written diary entries about slaves and the horrific situations they had to go through.
The underground railroad was a secret system used to free slaves. People who opposed slavery would take slaves from the southern United States and move them north into states where slavery was abolished, or Canada.

16. Write this in your planner! This assignment is due:
Year 9 History: Contextual Homework
Historical Perspectives
The Ethical Dimension
Evidence
The ability to analyse sources to support ideas about the past.
The ability to consider the point of view of both modern and historic people.
Examining historical enquiries through the lens of morals and ethics.
Write this in your planner!
This assignment is due:
Wednesday, 9 December at the beginning of your History Lesson.
Write a 150 word diary entry from the historical perspective of a slave that had escaped to freedom through the Underground Railroad.