GCSE key stages 3 and 4

Here you'll find guides and ideas for using the online Oxford DNB for teaching history, English, ICT, science and technology and citizenship classes at Key stages 3 and 4.

First, you may like to begin by taking our powerpoint tour of the online Oxford DNB for schools (this will take about 6 minutes)

Guides to using the online Oxford DNB

We have also provided three background guides for school teachers, plus an online class demonstration you can use to introduce the Oxford DNB to your students (all pdf files)

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• What is the Oxford DNB?
• What can the Oxford DNB online bring to teaching?
• Using the Oxford DNB online



• Class demonstration (a ten-minute walkthrough of the online Oxford DNB's features and functionality, to precede other work)

• There's also a Oxford DNB search guide with details of the two most useful types of searches you can do online: i. finding a person by name or ii. finding sets of people who share biographical information (for example, who lived in the same town or are known for the same profession).

• For other ways into the Dictionary, try the Free Oxford DNB area with links to Lives of the Week, a biography podcast, and quick reference Themes on 'open shelf'.

Sample lesson plans

The current set of lesson plans relates to the teaching of history at key stages 3 (age range 11 to 14) and 4 (ages 15 to 16), but the Oxford DNB can also help with ICT teaching more widely–for example how to make the most of a large database, how to refine searches, and how to present and interpret the results of searching. Because the dictionary includes men and women from all walks of life it can also be used across the curriculum to learn more about people active in any subject (authors, artists, inventors, scientists, and so on).

• Click here for lesson plans and teachers' notes

We will add to these sample lesson plans in due course. But you can now use the online Oxford DNB as a starting point for other types of work: for example to plan a project, learn about local history, discover how historical individuals shaped well-known historical events, or to make new connections between people in history. Find out how to do this from our background teachers' guides (links above).

• Oxford DNB's schoolzone evaluation
• Learning links

Getting access to the complete Oxford DNB

If your school already subscribes to the Oxford DNB, you can get access to all 57,000 biographies, plus Themes, now via your institution's link.

If you'd like information on getting a free trial of the Oxford DNB for your school or college please go to www.oup.com/online/odnb or contact onlineproducts@oup.com.

Further information on the Oxford DNB–including details of daily free biographies delivered to your inbox–can be found at www.oxforddnb.com.

Don't forget: in the UK you can get personal access to the full Oxford DNB online via most public libraries; remote log-ins allow library members to read the Oxford DNB at home for free.