Cover lesson · History · Year 10 · Intermediate
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Name: Class: Date:
Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Teras y Graig: one street in the records, 1921 and 1939”, one between two. No computers are needed. Pupils need a calculator, a ruler and two coloured pencils. The records are also in teras-y-graig-records.csv if you are in a computer room: pupils can sort and filter it in a spreadsheet for Step 2.
Run: 5 min pupils read the stimulus in pairs · 12 min Step 2, grouping the data · 13 min Step 3, percentages and bar chart · 8 min Step 4, where people went · 7 min Step 5, testing three claims · 8 min Step 6, limits and conclusion, alone. Total 53 minutes.
Collect: this sheet. It practises GCSE History Unit 1: An in-depth study on Welsh history, option 1.6 Wales in the early to mid-twentieth century, content 1.6.2 Life in Wales during the Depression (“unemployment and emigration from Wales”), and the analysis and evaluation of statistical sources. The street and its people are invented; the historical background and the figures in Source C are real.
Historians cannot interview the people of the 1930s, but they can search the records those people left behind. You have the 1921 census and the 1939 Register for one mining street, and a chapel book that shows who moved away. You will sort the people into groups, turn the groups into percentages and a chart, and use the data to judge what the Depression did to a Welsh mining community, and how far one street can tell us about Wales.
Read the box about the records, the two lists of people, the chapel book and Source C. Key words:
Count every person aged 14 and over into one group for each year. Tick each name off as you count it. Rules: anyone whose job is at a colliery goes in Coal mining, unless they are out of work. “Home duties” (1921) and “Unpaid domestic duties” (1939) are the same group.
| Group | 1921 (number of people) | 1939 (number of people) |
|---|---|---|
| Coal mining | ||
| Other paid work | ||
| Out of work | ||
| Home duties (unpaid) | ||
| Retired or unable to work | ||
| Total |
(a) Turn each group into a percentage of that year’s total, to 1 decimal place. Then work out the percentage change in the number of people aged 14 and over on the street from 1921 to 1939.
| Group | 1921 % | 1939 % |
|---|---|---|
| Coal mining | ||
| Other paid work | ||
| Out of work | ||
| Home duties (unpaid) | ||
| Retired or unable to work | ||
| Percentage change in people aged 14 and over, 1921 to 1939 | ||
(b) Draw a comparative bar chart: for each group, a 1921 bar and a 1939 bar side by side, in two colours. Add a title and a key.
(a) Use Source B. How many people transferred out? How many went to places in England? What percentage is that?
(b) Of the 40 people on the street in 1921, how many are still there in 1939? Account for all the others (moved, died, unknown).
For each claim, write supported, not supported or partly supported, and give the figures that prove it.
| Claim | Verdict and evidence |
|---|---|
| 1. “By 1939, most people on Teras y Graig were out of work.” | |
| 2. “Coal mining stopped being the main paid work on the street.” | |
| 3. “Teras y Graig lost people much faster than Wales as a whole.” |
(a) Give three limits of these records as evidence about the Depression in Wales.
(b) In about 80 words: What do the records of Teras y Graig show about the impact of the Depression on the people of Wales? Use at least two figures.