Changing agriculture in Britain during the Iron Age
I can describe how the use of iron impacted farming during the Iron Age.
Changing agriculture in Britain during the Iron Age
I can describe how the use of iron impacted farming during the Iron Age.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Iron farming tools like the ard plough could be used in heavy clay soils and wetter conditions.
- This allowed a greater variety of crops to be grown, such as oats, and more land to become available for farming.
- Iron also allowed the creation of stronger tools, such as axes, meaning further clearing of the wildwood.
- With more farming, the number of enclosed settlements grew and land ownership became more important.
Keywords
Crops - plants grown for food are called crops
Ard plough - an ard plough was an iron tool used by Iron Age farmers to create lines in the soil for planting seeds
Sickle - a sickle was an iron tool used by Iron Age farmers to cut crops when they were ready to harvest
Wildwood - forest or woodland areas growing naturally are called wildwood
Enclosed - if an area is enclosed it is surrounded by a wall or fence
Common misconception
Farmers in the Iron Age had the same tools farmers have today such as tractors.
Ensure children understand that farming was done by hand with a few iron tools to help. New tools such as the ard plough and iron sickle made a huge impact on farming.
To help you plan your year 3 history lesson on: Changing agriculture in Britain during the Iron Age, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 3 history lesson on: Changing agriculture in Britain during the Iron Age, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 history lessons from the Bronze and Iron Age Britain: how did life change during this time? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Starter quiz
6 Questions
a period in history when people used iron
groups of people living in Britian and Europe during the Iron Age
a group of people living and working together
Exit quiz
6 Questions
an area surrounded by a fence, ditch or wall
plants grown for food
forest or woodland areas growing naturally