Introduction

Introduction
The aim of this site is to engage HSC Modern History students in the study of the Rivonia Trial as part of **Personalities in the Twentieth Century Option 13: Nelson Mandela 1918 to 2000**. Using a selection of the resources provided, students should engage in the evaluation of the statement “the Rivonia Trial was fair”. In order to successfully complete the activity, students are required to understand the background, process and outcome of the Rivonia Trial. It is suggested, therefore, that students have a firm knowledge of Mandela’s historical context, background and rise to prominence, and be familiar with the Defiance Campaign, Freedom Charter and Umkhonto we Sizwe before attempting to complete this activity.

The aim of this activity is for students to practice composing evaluative responses by identifying arguments that can be expanded upon to create an extended written response. The task has been differentiated to challenge and engage students of all ability levels. Task a is designed for comprehensive students. Students completing this task should demonstrate their understanding of the process and outcome of the Rivonia Trial through the identification of potential arguments in supplied retrieval chart. Students with limited historical inquiry skills may complete Task b. The focus of this task is on understanding the order and importance of events. Students therefore create a timeline of the Rivonia Trial, followed by a shorter evaluation-based activity. Extension and advanced students should attempt Task c, which involves evaluating the more complicated statement “violence is never acceptable as a political tool, therefore the Rivonia Trial was fair”. This task involves incorporating evaluation of the political climate of apartheid South Africa with evaluation of the Rivonia Trial.

By completing this activity, students will achieve the following outcomes:

H1.2 analyse and evaluate the role of key features, issues, individuals, groups and events of selected twentieth-century studies H3.2 locate, select and organise relevant information from different types of sources H3.5 plan and present the findings of historical investigations, analysing and synthesising information from different types of sources


 * [[file:Lesson plan.pdf]] || [[file:Task a.doc]] || [[file:Task b.doc]] || [[file:Task c.doc]] ||