What is 10 Second War Stories?

10 Second War Stories brings military history to life through stories, veteran profile, force profiles, and equipment guides across all nations and conflicts.

Teacher Resources

Building a War Channel Inquiry Unit

Teaching with 10 Second War Stories

A planning frame for building a multi-lesson enquiry around one of the website's six war channels, from a central question to a final written outcome.

Suggested age

11–16 (teacher guide)

Duration

Variable

Type

Lesson pack

Conflict / period

General

Subjects

History, English

Overview

A planning frame for building a multi-lesson enquiry around one of the website's six war channels, from a central question to a final written outcome.

Learning objectives

Frame a historical enquiry around an overarching question.
Sequence lessons within a war channel toward a final outcome.
Select website stories and resources that support the enquiry.

Materials required

Access to the chosen war channel page
Planning grid (included)
Class set of enquiry question cards

Historical context

An enquiry-led history unit organises several lessons around one rich question. The website's war channels (WW1, WW2, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam, Gulf) each gather enough stories to support a full half-term enquiry. This pack helps teachers plan one from scratch.

Reading material

A good enquiry has a question that cannot be answered in a single lesson. 'Why did people go on fighting in the trenches?' is an enquiry. 'When did WW1 end?' is not. Choose a war channel, agree an overarching question, then map the website's stories onto a sequence of lessons that build toward an answer.

Student worksheet (preview)

Enquiry planner War channel chosen: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Overarching question __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lesson 1 (hook): which short / story? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lesson 2 (build): __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lesson 3 (depth): __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lesson 4 (contrast): __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lesson 5 (outcome): what will students produce? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Discussion questions

What makes a question 'enquiry-worthy'?
Why is it useful to start a unit with a hook lesson?
How do you decide which stories to leave out?

Extension task

Add a sixth lesson in which students present their enquiry answer to a younger class.

Support prompts

Start from a story you already like.
Ask: what bigger question does this story hint at?
Make sure the question needs more than one lesson to answer.

Sources and credits

10secondwarstories.base44.app
Historical Association — Enquiry Planning

Produced by 10 Second War Stories.