Presentation: Analysing Historical Bias Online

Slide 1 of 7 · Settling starter · History · Year 9

5 minutes

Two websites, one rising: Merthyr, June 1831

Two websites describe the same 6 days in Merthyr Tydfil in June 1831. They agree on almost every fact and disagree completely on what those facts mean. Today you audit both of them for bias.

While the register is called: write your name, class and date on your worksheet, then read the “Facts both sites agree on” box on the stimulus sheet. These are your fixed points.

Starter question: On 3 June 1831, how many people surrounded the Castle Inn, how many protesters were killed, and how many soldiers were injured?

DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content No computers needed · pen and a highlighter or pencil

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Hand out: one worksheet and one stimulus sheet (Two websites, one rising: Merthyr, June 1831) per pupil. Pupils need a pen and something to underline with. The two websites are invented; the agreed facts are taken from the WJEC GCSE History resource and are real.

Say aloud: “Write your name, class and date at the top of your worksheet. While I take the register, read the box called Facts both sites agree on at the top of the stimulus sheet.” Then read the 6 bullet points aloud to the class, slowly, and ask the starter question.

Starter answer: a crowd of about 10,000; 24 protesters were killed and 16 soldiers were injured. Both extracts will use one of these numbers and drop the other.

Slide 2 of 7 · Today’s brief and key words · History · Year 9

3 minutes

Your brief: audit both extracts, quote the words that give each writer away

You will underline the loaded words in Extract A and Extract B, complete the bias audit table and the spot the difference table, then write a verdict paragraph of 120 to 180 words saying which extract is more useful to a historian and what warning it needs.

Bias

Not the same as lying. A page can be entirely accurate and still be biased, through word choice and what is left out.

Loaded word

A word that carries a judgement rather than a fact: “heroic”, “mob”, “greedy”, “mercifully”.

Agreed facts

The 6 points both sites accept. Use them to test a claim instead of saying which extract you prefer.

LNF: Literacy → Reading → Understanding, response and analysis Quote, do not summarise

Slide 3 of 7 · Step 2: underline the loaded words · History · Year 9

9 minutes

Step 2: read Extract A and Extract B, underline every judgement

Read both extracts on the stimulus sheet. Underline every word that carries a judgement rather than a fact. Notice the lines above each extract too: author, date and what the About page says.

Extract A, Valleys Heritage Voices: “the heroic ironworkers”, “greedy ironmasters”, “a peaceful crowd was butchered”

Extract B, britishindustry.info: “a drunken mob rampaged”, “admirable restraint”, “Order was mercifully restored”

Step 2 on your worksheet · 9 minutes A fact can be checked; a judgement tells you what to feel

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “Read Extract A, then Extract B. Every time a word tells you what to feel rather than what happened, underline it. Six examples are on the board to get you started. Expect to find many more.”

Quick check: other loaded words in A include “robbed”, “corrupt”, “hiding”, “unarmed families”, “innocent”, “slaughtered”, “cruelty”, “scapegoat”, “martyr”, “begged”, “murdered”, “crime”. In B: “disturbances”, “interruption”, “outside agitators”, “terrorising”, “respectable”, “lawfully”, “rioters”, “thugs”, “firmly”, “ringleader”, “prosperous”.

Walk the room: both extracts have no author and no date. Extract A’s About page says “celebrating the fighting spirit of the coalfield”; Extract B’s says “a celebration of the men who built British industry”. Pupils need these for the next step.

Slide 4 of 7 · Step 3: the bias audit table · History · Year 9

14 minutes

Step 3: complete the bias audit table, then spot the difference

Fill in all 7 rows for both extracts. You must quote, not summarise. Then complete the 3 rows of the spot the difference table: what does the change of words do to the reader?

Question	Extract A: Valleys Heritage Voices	Extract B: britishindustry.info
Who wrote it, and how do you know?	No idea. There is no author and no date. All I know is what the About page says.	Also no author and no date. A directory with no named editor.
What is the site for?	“celebrating the fighting spirit of the coalfield”: it exists to celebrate, so it needs heroes.	“a celebration of the men who built British industry”: the ironmasters are the men it celebrates, so the workers must be the problem.

Step 3 on your worksheet · 14 minutes Loaded word: quote it, then say what it is doing

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “The first 2 rows are on the board. Fill in the other 5 for both extracts, quoting the exact words. Then do the spot the difference table underneath. About 10 minutes on the audit, 4 on spot the difference.”

Quick check, audit: loaded words, any 2 per extract with an explanation, for example A “butchered” (what you do to animals, makes the soldiers calm and the crowd helpless) and “greedy ironmasters who cared for nothing but profit” (one motive for every employer); B “mob” (no aims, no individuals, so you never say what they wanted) and “mercifully restored” (tells the reader to be relieved). Checkable claims: A “Twenty-four innocent people were slaughtered”, 24 matches the facts but “innocent” is added; B “Sixteen soldiers were injured”, 16 matches. Left out: A leaves out the burning of the Court of Requests records and the house-to-house reclaiming on 2 June, so “peaceful” is hard to defend; B leaves out the 12 to 13 hour shifts, truck tokens and tommy shops, every reason anyone was there. Named people: A names Dic Penderyn with an age and job, the soldiers are nameless and “hiding”; B names only Richard Lewis, as the ringleader, and the 10,000 are “rioters” and “thugs”.

Quick check, spot the difference: “peaceful crowd” makes the shooting unprovoked, “drunken mob” makes it unavoidable, and neither writer offers evidence about drink. “Martyr” decides he was innocent, “ringleader” decides he was guilty and in charge; the facts say only that he was convicted of wounding a soldier and 11,000 people petitioned. Both casualty numbers are correct; each writer keeps their own side’s casualties and drops the other.

Slide 5 of 7 · Step 4: your verdict · History · Year 9

11 minutes

Step 4: write your verdict paragraph

One paragraph of 120 to 180 words, in silence. Name the more useful extract, quote evidence from both, and say what a historian would have to warn the reader about before using it.

Model opening: “Both extracts are biased, and neither is usable on its own. Extract A is the more useful of the two, but only because it admits what it is: the About page says it exists to celebrate ‘the fighting spirit of the coalfield’, so a reader knows where the writer is standing before the first sentence.”

Model ending: “If I cited Extract A in an essay I would have to write: this is a community history site with no named author or date, written to celebrate the workers, and its description of the crowd as peaceful is contradicted by the events of 2 June.”

DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content Criticise the source you prefer, too

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “11 minutes, in silence. A model opening and a model ending are on the board. You may choose either extract as the more useful one, but you must quote both, test a claim against the agreed facts, and finish with the warning sentence you would have to write when you cited it. Count your words.”

Walk the room: a secure verdict is willing to criticise the source it prefers. The model pupil chose Extract A because it keeps the causes in view (the Court of Requests, the debt), which B deletes, but points out that A calls the crowd “peaceful” when the facts say they burned court records 2 days earlier, and that B is better on one thing: “sixteen soldiers were injured” is a fact A leaves out. A pupil who picks Extract B with the same kind of evidence has also done the task.

Slide 6 of 7 · Step 5: swap and check · History · Year 9

5 minutes

Step 5: swap with a partner and tick the success criteria

Tick your partner’s work against the criteria. Tell them 1 quotation they should have used. Then take your sheet back and correct 1 thing.

I quote at least 2 loaded words from each extract and explain what each one is doing to the reader.
I use the agreed facts to test a claim, instead of just saying which extract I prefer.
I identify something each extract leaves out, and say why leaving it out matters.
I judge the sources on who wrote them and why, not only on what they say.
My verdict says how the source could still be used, with a warning attached.

5 minutes · partner check Finished early? Try the tasks at the bottom of your sheet

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “Swap sheets. Tick each criterion your partner has met. Then tell them 1 quotation from the extracts they should have used. Take your own sheet back and correct 1 thing.”

Extension answers: a Castle Inn paragraph using only the agreed facts is much shorter than either extract: every judgement word goes missing, which shows how much of each page was opinion. The 3 lines to add at the bottom of each page: the author’s name, the date published, and where the information came from. Ianto Parker’s deathbed confession is difficult evidence because it came decades later, cannot be questioned or tested, and a historian must be just as careful with evidence that points the way they want it to.

Slide 7 of 7 · Plenary review · History · Year 9

3 minutes

Which extract would you cite, and what would you have to say about it?

Be ready to answer out loud. Then check these 3 answers before your worksheets are collected.

Question	Correct answer
Is a page with every number correct always unbiased?	No. Both extracts use real figures (24 killed, 16 injured) and each keeps only its own side’s casualties.
Who are “the martyr Dic Penderyn” and “the ringleader Richard Lewis”?	The same man, hanged outside Cardiff Gaol on 13 August 1831. One label decides he was innocent, the other that he was guilty.
What do both websites hide that a historian needs?	An author and a date. All you know is what each About page says.

Check your name and class are on your worksheet Hand in the worksheet with the table and verdict complete