Year 9s Reenact World War One

For one Year 9 History lesson a classroom was turned into a warzone to help the kids better understand the conditions in the trenches during the First World War.

The class was divided into two separate sides who then had to amass and ration munitions (balled up paper) and build up their trenches (stack desks). If hit, they had to simulate losing limbs or their lives.

Teacher Mrs Skinner ran through several different scenarios like ceasefires and troop recoveries in no man’s land. There was also opportunities to sneak over to the enemies lines for an infiltration.

“The lesson gave the class practical experience of how the students had to work together with limited resources,” explains teacher Caprice Skinner, “The students were all engaged and gained some great perspective on the hardships of Australians in the trenches during the war.”