We hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season and New Year’s! Today we are excited to release the first class materials for our Year 11 Inspire Programme.
This year we’re considering the question “What is the power of a volcano?” In this class we learn how to engage with primary sources and historical materials in order to ask interesting questions that will help us make sense of the past. We’ll be starting with one of the most famous volcanic eruptions of all time, Pompeii. From dinner party wares to the archives of a banking family, we will look at all sorts of materials that can help us understand the customs, culture and challenges of people in Pompeii. We’ll also learn how to date historic volcanic eruptions using a variety of methods, and then we will consider the role of the historian in preserving the very material that we’ve been looking at.
Upcoming:
- The competition deadline is Monday, 27 January 2020: Pupils registered on the course should sure to submit their competition entries by 5pm that day! You can find the submission guidelines here.
- Also on 27 January, we will send out the materials for Class 2. See December’s Introduction to the course for a summary of what to expect in this class.
If you want to keep in touch, we also post plenty of other content on our Instagram and on Inspire Digital; you can sign up for updates at the bottom of any page on the site.
See you again on 27 January for Class 2! And as always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at inspire@sjc.ox.ac.uk if you have any questions.