Virtual Visit 
Indus Valley investigation 

• Virtual Visits are live interactive workshops linking your classroom to an expert in one of the British Museum's learning rooms.
• They have been designed to incorporate a broad range of learning techniques.
• Your students will take an active role throughout the Virtual Visit.
• Virtual Visits acknowledge that learning is not only about knowledge and understanding. It encourages students to be inspired and excited to visit museums, to develop their close observation competency, and to enhance their communication skills to express and share their own thoughts. 
• This workshop does not involve virtual reality, augmented reality or a virtual tour of the galleries.

• The Virtual Visit begins with an introduction to the British Museum and its collection of eight million objects. 
• It centres around the Indus Civilisation which flourished around five thousand years ago in parts of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. 
• It has a strong narrative element, and an investigative structure. 
• What, when, where, why and who questions will be used throughout the session to investigate various aspects of the Indus Civilisation. 
• Where was the Indus Civilisation? Students will look at a map with modern place names to discover where its citizens lived.  
• When did the Indus Civilisation exist? Students explore a timeline featuring points in world history to find out how long ago the Indus Civilisation existed. There will also be a discussion on what was happening at this time elsewhere in the world. 
• What would happen to the buildings in a city if everyone left? Students share their ideas verbally. 
• Who helped rediscover the Indus Civilisation? Four main figures and their roles will feature in the discussion. 
• What do the objects from the Indus Civilisation tell us about the people who lived there? Students explore materials and their durability by touching the materials around them. Close observation of the objects which remain, such as seals, jewellery and weights and measures from the collection will support their understanding of how the population lived. 
• Students take part in a quiz. The quiz will help students apply what they have learned. 
• Why were the cities of the Indus Civilisation abandoned? The Museum expert introduces the final question and suggests that not everything has been revealed from the ancient past and there are many unanswered questions that still need to be discovered and investigated. 

England, The National Curriculum in England, Key stage 2, History

• The achievements of the earliest civilisations – an overview of where and when the first civilisations appeared and an in-depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China.

Northern Ireland, The Northern Ireland Curriculum, Key stage 2, The world around us

• Place
• Change over time

Scotland, Curriculum for Excellence, second level, social studies: people, past events and societies

• I can use primary and secondary sources selectively to research events in the past. 
• I can compare and contrast a society in the past with my own and contribute to a discussion of the similarities and differences. 
• I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence.

Wales, The National Curriculum for Wales, Key stage 2, History

• Chronological awareness
• Historical knowledge and understanding 
• Interpretations of history 
• Historical enquiry 
• Organisation and communication
   

Afghanistan, Alexander Cunningham, archaeologist, archaeology, carnelian, climate change, curator, Daya Ram Sahni, drainage, Harappa, Himalayan Mountains, India, Indus Valley, John Marshall, Lothal, material, Mesopotamia, Mohenjo-Daro, Pakistan, Rakhaldas Banerji, resources, water management.

You can discover more Middle East and Asia resources, either before or after your Virtual Visit