Lesson overview
GROW · Humanities · Teesside History Studio · Week 2 of 8

Source Detectives

AQA UAS ‘History around us’ · GROW tier

🎯 Learning objective: I can evaluate a source’s utility for a specific question using content, provenance, context and corroboration.
✅ Success criteria
  • I can separate tells/shows from inference and cannot-prove.
  • I can use provenance and context to qualify a claim.
  • I can judge utility for a particular enquiry rather than call a source simply good/bad.
📜 defensible history🔎 provenance/source utility⏱ 40 min
📜
Source DetectivesDATE & CHALLENGE → SOURCE UTILITY → RANK CAUSES → AGENCY → SIGNIFICANCE → ACCOUNT → MAP
Inherited
Week 1 — chronology, intervals, challenged placements and questions needing better evidence.
→
Feeds next
Your source challenges set which corroborating evidence and causal claims enter Week 3.
GROW entryState/date with support.
GROW secureRank, qualify and explain with evidence.
LAUNCH reachCorroborate, weigh interpretations and transfer.
Source gate: genuine pupil source = what/who/when/origin/rights. Adapted/constructed material is labelled as such, never presented as an untouched original.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
GROW History Studio: predictable structure, visible success criteria, quiet response time.
⏱ 3 min
🚪 Arrival · retrieve the historian spine
Inherited
Week 1 — chronology, intervals, challenged placements and questions needing better evidence.
→
Feeds next
Your source challenges set which corroborating evidence and causal claims enter Week 3.
◆ Supported

Complete: a source can SHOW/SAY something, SUGGEST something, or leave something ___.

▲ Standard

Explain why provenance matters and name two provenance questions.

★ Stretch

Explain why a biased/purposeful source can be highly useful for one question and weak for another.

GROW Humanities Voice can be
🗣 explain / qualify☝ point / select🧩 rank / map / sequence✍ annotate / short edit🔁 re-attempt🎙 authorised voice response
Quiet response time; no public comparison. Personal/family history is optional.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Retrieve the prior historian judgement without personal disclosure.
⏱ 3 min
🌱 Starter · question before conclusion

🔍 Enquiry

How do provenance, content and context affect what a source tells, suggests or cannot prove?

A source is not ‘reliable’ or ‘unreliable’ in the abstract. What changes when the question changes?

START WITH THE QUESTIONPause for pupil noticing/decision before the next frame.
WEIGH CONTENT + PROVENANCEPause for pupil noticing/decision before the next frame.
CORROBORATE, DON’T JUST COUNTPause for pupil noticing/decision before the next frame.
JUDGE UTILITY WITH A LIMITATIONPause for pupil noticing/decision before the next frame.
GROW Humanities Voice can be
🗣 explain / qualify☝ point / select🧩 rank / map / sequence✍ annotate / short edit🔁 re-attempt🎙 authorised voice response
Quiet response time; no public comparison. Personal/family history is optional.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Question/doubt before verdict.
⏱ 4 min
👩‍🏫 I Do · model defensible reasoning
🧠 Reveal one controlled decision at a time.
Frame source utility around a specific enquiry: useful FOR WHAT?
Separate content from provenance/context before combining them into a judgement.
Purpose/bias can create evidence about attitudes/communication even while limiting representativeness.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Teacher models defensible reasoning; support staff watch source access and ownership.
⏱ 3 min
🤝 We Do · evidence hinge
Commit before reveal: A promotional poster exaggerates how attractive a town is. For which question might it still be very useful?
GROW Art Voice can be
🗣 explain / compare☝ point / select🎨 make / demonstrate✍ annotate / edit🔁 retry / refine🎙 authorised voice/clip
Quiet response time is available. No public comparison. Personal disclosure is optional.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Adult genuinely receives the response; next question/source scaffold changes.
⏱ 3 min
👩‍🏫 I Do 2 · qualify / compare
🧠 Reveal one controlled decision at a time.
Corroboration changes confidence: agreement/disagreement must be explained, not counted mechanically.
Source gate: what/who/when/origin/rights; adapted/constructed material is visibly distinguished from authentic historical source.
GROW secure judgement uses ‘useful because… but limited because… for this question…’.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Teacher models defensible reasoning; support staff watch source access and ownership.
⏱ 4 min
🤝 We Do 2 · interactive history lab
Model first, evidence next: the interactive panel is rehearsal only. Real source/map/assessment evidence remains in the authorised pack.

🔎 Utility & provenance desk

Source-ready only when: what · who · when · where from · rights/use. Adapted/constructed items must be visibly distinguished.
Teacher loads locally cleared source image
STOP until provenance/approval is complete.
File stays in this page only. Rights/approval remain teacher/centre responsibility.
GROW Humanities Voice can be
🗣 explain / qualify☝ point / select🧩 rank / map / sequence✍ annotate / short edit🔁 re-attempt🎙 authorised voice response
Quiet response time; no public comparison. Personal/family history is optional.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Adult genuinely receives the response; next question/source scaffold changes.
⏱ 16 min
📜 Independent · defensible evidence

📜 Independent historian mission

Evaluate two locally approved sources against a specific Week 3 migration/cause question. Record content, provenance/context, one inference, one limitation, corroboration point and a qualified utility judgement.

16 minutes. Challenge routes alter reasoning demand, not source readability/access.
📚 HISTORY EVIDENCE READY
MaterialsLocally approved/credited source, clue, atlas/map or Week 6 plan/support materials appropriate to this lesson.
Access / carePersonal/family disclosure is optional. Provide enlarged/chunked/transcribed/audio/colour-safe source routes as needed. W7 uses only pre-agreed assessment access.
Evidence targetTwo-source evaluation + provenance record + qualified utility/corroboration reasoning.
◆ One source + structured tells/suggests/cannot-prove and one utility judgement; second source as guided comparison.
It shows ___. It suggests ___. Useful for ___ because ___. Limited because ___.
Fade the first content prompt no longer needed; keep sensory/motor/navigation access.
▲ Two-source utility comparison with corroboration and provenance.
Question → content → provenance/context → corroboration → utility.
Fade the first content prompt no longer needed; keep sensory/motor/navigation access.
★ Explain how the same source’s utility changes under a different enquiry and weigh an alternative interpretation.
Change the enquiry and re-evaluate; ‘depends’ must name what it depends on.
Fade the first content prompt no longer needed; keep sensory/motor/navigation access.
1 · Historical judgementchallenge, utility, rank, agency, significance, thesis or map interpretation
2 · Evidencesource/clue/map/plan with provenance where applicable
3 · Reasoningbecause, comparison, qualification, uncertainty or limitation
GROW Humanities Voice can be
🗣 explain / qualify☝ point / select🧩 rank / map / sequence✍ annotate / short edit🔁 re-attempt🎙 authorised voice response
Quiet response time; no public comparison. Personal/family history is optional.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Pupil ranks, qualifies, explains and monitors; content prompts fade.
⏱ 4 min
🎫 Exit · evidence → response → Influence
◆ Supported

State/show one judgement and the evidence behind it.

▲ Standard

Explain one judgement plus a limitation/qualification.

★ Stretch

Transfer today’s historian routine to an unfamiliar source/question and weigh an alternative interpretation.

🔁 GROW Humanities close

VOICE: Pupil can annotate, compare, speak or use accessible source versions; personal/family documents are never required.

AUDIENCE: adult genuinely receives and names the reasoning before R.

INFLUENCE: Source challenges determine corroborating evidence and causal claims entering W3.

No second closure/receipt system is added. The shared Reading the Response approach remains the interpretation route.

Inherited
Week 1 — chronology, intervals, challenged placements and questions needing better evidence.
→
Feeds next
Your source challenges set which corroborating evidence and causal claims enter Week 3.
GROW Humanities Voice can be
🗣 explain / qualify☝ point / select🧩 rank / map / sequence✍ annotate / short edit🔁 re-attempt🎙 authorised voice response
Quiet response time; no public comparison. Personal/family history is optional.
SPACE · steel
VOICE · rust
AUDIENCE · teal
INFLUENCE · gold
Short edit/verbal reply/re-attempt is received before R; Influence shapes next lesson/assessment plan.
🧑‍🏫 SUPPORT STAFF

NOT A HISTORY SPECIALIST? SAY THIS

Say: “Don’t ask ‘is this source reliable?’ Ask ‘how useful is it FOR THIS QUESTION, and why?’”

Priority

Move learning forward

Least prompt first
waitself-promptpoint/source cuegeneral verbalspecific verbalmodeldirect support
🔁 GROW · READ THE RESPONSE

Disciplinary prompts

Receive the response first.

The general staff Reading-the-Response routine remains authoritative; these are subject examples only.

GROW Humanities W2 · Source Detectives · v3

Supported

◆ One source + structured tells/suggests/cannot-prove and one utility judgement; second source as guided comparison.
It shows ___. It suggests ___. Useful for ___ because ___. Limited because ___.
Fade the first content prompt no longer needed; keep sensory/motor/navigation access.

Standard

▲ Two-source utility comparison with corroboration and provenance.
Question → content → provenance/context → corroboration → utility.
Fade the first content prompt no longer needed; keep sensory/motor/navigation access.

Stretch

★ Explain how the same source’s utility changes under a different enquiry and weigh an alternative interpretation.
Change the enquiry and re-evaluate; ‘depends’ must name what it depends on.
Fade the first content prompt no longer needed; keep sensory/motor/navigation access.

Independent mission

📜 Independent historian mission

Evaluate two locally approved sources against a specific Week 3 migration/cause question. Record content, provenance/context, one inference, one limitation, corroboration point and a qualified utility judgement.