Cover lesson · History · Year 7 · Beginner

Castles of Wales: a digital timeline

DCF: Producing → Creating digital content

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Castles of Wales: twelve fact cards”, one per pair. No computers are needed — pupils plan the digital timeline on paper. If you are in a computer room, pupils can build their plan in PowerPoint or Google Slides after Step 4; the dates are also in castles-of-wales.csv.

Run: 5 min — read “Three kinds of builder” on the stimulus sheet aloud · 10 min — Step 1, sort the twelve castles · 15 min — Step 2, plot them on the timeline · 10 min — Step 3, answer the questions · 15 min — Step 4, plan three screens of the digital timeline · 5 min — swap with a partner and tick each other’s work against the success criteria.

Collect: this sheet. The answers to Steps 1 and 3 are on the worked example sheet; show it only after pupils have finished their own timeline.

What you are doing

Castles were built all over Wales by three very different groups of people, for very different reasons. You are going to put twelve of them in order on a timeline, use it to spot the pattern, and then plan a digital timeline — a set of screens a visitor clicks through — that tells the story clearly.

A good digital timeline is not just pretty. Every screen works the same way, the date is easy to find, and the pictures are credited and described so that everyone can use it.

Step 1 — sort the builders

Read the twelve cards. Write each castle’s card number, name and the year it was begun in the right column.

Norman lords	Welsh princes	King Edward I

Step 2 — plot the timeline

For each castle, draw its shape just above the line at the year it was begun and write its card number inside: a square for Norman lords, a circle for Welsh princes, a triangle for King Edward I. Use shapes, not only colours, so the timeline still works printed in black and white. If two castles were begun in the same year, stack them.

Step 3 — read your timeline

(a) Which group of builders started first? How many years after 1066 was their first castle begun?

(b) All three Welsh castles were begun by the same prince. Who was he, and how many years are there between his first castle and his last?

(c) Look at the dashed line for 1282. How many castles did Edward I begin the very next year? Use the cards to suggest why he built them then.

(d) How many years are there between the first castle on your timeline and the last? Show the subtraction.

Step 4 — plan your digital timeline

You are designing a digital timeline called Castles of Wales, 1067–1295 for visitors to a castle website. It has one screen per castle, in date order, plus a title screen and a key. Plan three of the screens below. Follow these design rules:

Every castle screen has the same layout, so the visitor always knows where to look.
The date is the biggest thing on a castle screen.
Each builder group keeps the same shape and colour as on your paper timeline.
No more than 25 words of text about each castle.
Every picture has a credit saying where it came from, and alt text: a short description that a screen reader reads aloud for someone who cannot see the picture.

Screen 1 — title screen: sketch it and label the parts

Screen 2 — the key: how will a visitor know which group built each castle?

Screen 3 — one castle of your choice: sketch the layout, then fill in the table

Castle and date
My text (25 words or fewer — write the word count at the end)
Picture I would use, and its credit
Alt text for the picture
How the visitor moves to the next screen

Step by step

5 min — Listen to “Three kinds of builder” on the stimulus sheet.
10 min — Step 1: sort all twelve castles into the table.
15 min — Step 2: plot all twelve on the timeline with the right shape and number.
10 min — Step 3: answer (a) to (d), quoting dates.
15 min — Step 4: plan the three screens. On a computer: one slide per screen, using the same slide layout for every castle.
5 min — Swap with a partner and tick their work against the success criteria.

Success criteria

I sorted all twelve castles into the right builder group.
I plotted every castle at the right year on a scaled timeline, with a key that works without colour.
I answered questions from my timeline and used dates as my evidence.
My screen plan follows the design rules: the same layout every time, the date stands out, and no more than 25 words.
I wrote a picture credit and alt text that would help someone who cannot see the picture.

If you finish early

Castell Coch, near Cardiff, is a 13th-century castle that was rebuilt between 1875 and 1891 by the architect William Burges for the Marquess of Bute. To fit it on, your timeline would have to run from 1050 to 1900 — 850 years instead of 250. On the same length of line, how much closer together would the 10-year marks be?
Owain Glyndŵr captured Criccieth and Harlech in 1404. Plan an extra “what happened next” screen that could go at the end of the timeline, following the same design rules.
Plan the Welsh-language version of your castle screen, using the Welsh place names on the cards. What would you change in the layout so that both languages fit?