Mystery of the Missing Cake

Mystery of the missing cake KS1 teachers notes (97 KB)
Mystery of the missing cake KS2 resources (84 KB)
Mystery of the missing cake KS2 teachers notes (98 KB)
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History Mysteries at KS1 and KS2

Who stole the cake? a possible suspect. photo Russell McNamara The lessons centred round a mystery, the theft of a cake in an imaginary land where soft toys or characters from children’s nursery rhymes live – Nursery Rhyme Land. The focus was on stimulating and developing the children’s skills of enquiry, particularly the raising of relevant questions and the evaluation of evidence.

The lessons formed part of an enrichment programme of ‘intelligence-in-action’, based on Shayer and Adey’s Cognitive Acceleration in Science Education (CASE) project, which had a profound impact on the quality of pupils’ thinking.
See Cognitive Acceleration in History Education (CACHE).

Resources

Who stole the cake? a possible suspect. photo Russell McNamara For KS2 you need some nursery rhyme books. Alternatively you could use other stories with imaginary characters.

For KS1 a selection of soft toys, to play the part of suspects, would be good.

KS1 lesson developed by Rosie Turner-Bisset
KS2 variant by Jon Nichol
Editor Jacqui Dean