All Activities
History

Someone Who Made a Difference

Overview

Children learn about one significant person from history and discuss what that person did and why it still matters today.

Learning Objective
Children understand that some people from the past changed the world and can explain what made them significant.

Resources needed

  • Teacher's knowledge of a locally or globally significant person

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Introduce a significant person — choose someone relevant to the local or national context.
  2. 2 Tell their story simply: who were they? What did they do? When did they live?
  3. 3 Ask: was their life easy or difficult?
  4. 4 Ask: how did they change things for other people?
  5. 5 Ask: do we still feel the effect of what they did today?
  6. 6 Children draw the person and write or say one thing they did.
  7. 7 Ask: could anyone make this kind of difference today?

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Compare two significant people from different times.
  • Children choose their own significant person to research and present.
  • Discuss: what makes someone significant — fame, goodness, or impact?
More information

Teach: significant, biography, impact, changed, remembered, achievement. A simple who/what/when/why framework helps structure the discussion.

Use a local community figure rather than a distant historical figure to make the concept more concrete.

Can children name one thing the person did and one way it affected others? Do they understand the difference between being famous and being significant?

No resources needed — the teacher's oral account is the primary source. Draw a portrait in soil if no paper is available.

Children often think significant means famous or popular. Help them understand that significance is about impact on other people's lives — not celebrity.

Studying significant people helps children understand agency — the idea that individuals can shape history. This is an empowering historical concept.