Debating the 'Dark' Ages

This week we explored a variety of online and offline sources to answer our inquiry question of whether the period of history covering approximately 500-1500AD should be considered the Dark Ages. To answer the questions, students delved into sources covering all continents.

Thanks to Mr Crandell, our librarian, students were able to apply the ABCD method for evaluating sources to ensure their information was as accurate as possible.

Click here to enlarge

Once they had completed their global research, they were allocated 'for' or 'against' to debate the question of whether the Dark Ages really was dark.

Students did a great job of defending their positions showing they can argue rationally, regardless of personal feelings. Rather than focus on opinions, they used researched and referenced sources to prove their points. Many interesting facts came from the collective research including that:

• the Islamic Golden Age took place during this time leading to many discoveries that changed our world forever (Amaan)
• the Plague killed thousands of people across Europe, Africa and Asia - a truly terrible time
• China invented irrigation systems which improved farming (Micha)
• Angkor Wat in Cambodia was abandoned by the people who lived there for mysterious reasons (Jaiswin)
• The Mongols spread over much of China bringing bloodshed but also stability and unity (Maddie)
• In South America, Mayan and Incan civilisations thrived (Sean)
• In China, block printing was invented and books became available (Khadija)

This is just a selection of events that happened between 500-1500AD, so please do chat with the students to find out more and also learn what their final response to our inquiry question was. Of course, you can always click on their blogs to the right of this post to see their reflections and start a discussion through their comment sections.

Whatever you do, happy learning!