The area of study I have chosen to develop and evaluate my subject knowledge on is History: KS2: 12: A European History Study of Ancient Greece.

After only achieving a limited subject knowledge base from the first resource I then wanted to build upon this further by being able to expand on some of the knowledge I have learnt so far. I then chose my second resource to aid me in doing this.  is a website which has been created for teachers to gain subject knowledge on this topic when taking their class to the museum. This was a useful source and helped me understand some of the sporting events that took place. I learned that any ‘Hostilities were banned during the period around the games to safeguard those travelling to and from Olympia.’ And that the modern Olympics started in 1896. I was also made aware of some of the events which took place in the Olympics for example the Pentathlon. This was an event which took place in the afternoon of day two in the Olympics and was made up of five events javelin, discus, jumping, wrestling, running. It also went into depth about how these events were organised and how they are different from the same events that still run today in the modern Olympics. I was also informed that ‘Winning contestants were allowed to put up statues of themselves inside the sanctuary of Zeus to commemorate their victory.’ which helped me to build upon the information which I had gathered from the previous resource. Although this resource helped me to understand the Olympics further there was still a limitation of information. Overall I think that this resource was really helpful as I am now aware of the sports events and also what happened to the winners of the competitions.

I then wanted to find further information on what happened on the five days in which the Olympic Games took place. Facaros D., Theodorus L. (2004), ‘Athens & Southern Greece’ gave me the relevant information to help build on my subject knowledge on the five days surrounding the Olympics. Some of the knowledge which I received accordingly after reading this book was that on the first day sacrifices to Zeus were made and athletes took their vows to obey the rules. On the second day was dedicated to the boy’s events and the Pentathlon. On the third day chariot racing took place and they also had a feast. The fourth day was dedicated to the men’s events such as wrestling and boxing and finally on the fifth day the winners were crowned with w wreath of olive leaves and sacrifices to the gods were made. Although the resource allowed me to acknowledge the events which took place over the five days it did not go into details about certain aspects such as why they sacrificed things to Zeus. In the future I would find it useful to research Zeus further which would allow me to gather further background knowledge, being able to see why Zeus was the sacred God around this time. As the first resource only stated that it was held over a five day period and the second only briefly mentioned what happened on each day I wanted to make myself aware of the activities that happened on these five days and this resource efficiently helped me to secure that knowledge. This resource definitely helped me by allowing me to paint a picture of the setting in which the Olympics took place.

I believe that my content subject knowledge has developed throughout the research of this topic, as I did not have a great subject knowledge base on the ancient Greeks to start off with. After using the three resources they have given me an insight on the study area and I feel comfortable with the knowledge I have gained. In the future if I was to complete another knowledge grid (see appendix 1) then I am sure that I would be able to identify an increase of the amount of subject knowledge I have. The subject content knowledge I have gained throughout my research will enhance my Pedagogical knowledge in the future and also the children’s learning. I personally think that I am more confidant in this area of study and would be able to teach it effectively to help children build their own content knowledge.

Reference list

, date visited 11th December 2009.

, date visited 11th December 2009

Howse C. (2004),  , Date visited 12th December 2009.

, Date Visited 13th December 2009.

Facaros D., Theodorus L. (2004), ‘Athens & Southern Greece’, Cadagan Guides, London.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Date visited 15th December 2009.

Macdonald F. (1998), ‘The Travellers Guide To Ancient Greece’, Marshall Editions, London.

Ackroyd P. (2005), ‘Ancient Greece’, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London.

Oxlade C., Ballheimer D. (1999), ‘Olympics’, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London.

Pearson A. (1992), ‘Ancient Greece’, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London.

Cortledge P. (2009), ‘Ancient Greece’, OUP, Oxford.

Swaddling J. (2000), ‘The Ancient Olympic Games’, University of Texas Press, Austin.