Geography,Citizenship and Food - from the British Library

The world renowned British Library has recently produced a new interactive website for KS3 and KS4 learners, centered around 'the revolutionary changes that have taken place in the consumption and production of food over the last century'. It uses oral history recordings from the British Library Sound Archive to explore a range of subjects including:
identity and ritual;
food and community;
cultural identity;
the experience of the consumer (both past and present), the changing face of the food industry in relation to subjects such as farming, technology, food miles, globalisation etc.

The expectation is that students will be exposed to a range of historical, geographical and cultural questions raised by the subject matter.

How you use it in the classroom is up to you, but the authors have been wise enough to provide teacher's notes, good background information, pretty much stand alone activities through the interactive web pages, and even free learning workshops. It's good to see that the Library has recognised the huge areas of overlap between Geography,History and Citizenship and developed a product that is equally at home in all three curriculum areas.

Although essentially a British institution, and centered around British history, culture and geography, the site should be worth using in other countries too, even if only to provide inspiration for locally orientated lessons and resources of a similar nature.

Here at the Geography Site I keep telling people about the importance of cross curricular links and I am keen to see materials that bridge the gaps. Take a look at Food Stories , then feel free to browse our own collection of cross curricular Geography links and lesson ideas on the Citizenship page of the Geography Site.