Columbus and Armstrong Venn Diagram

Year 2 HistoryExplorers: Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong3 pages

About this worksheet

This Year 2 history sheet compares Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong through 16 fact cards. Pupils sort each card into one of three columns: Only Christopher Columbus, Only Neil Armstrong or Both Explorers. The cards mix dates and details, such as Travelled in 1492, Flew in Apollo 11 and Used wooden ships. Page 2 asks which card was hardest to place and asks for one new fact in each group. The answer key gives six cards for Columbus, six for Armstrong and four shared ones. It also explains why Set off from America catches pupils out. The sheet follows the KS1 history programme of study in the England National Curriculum.

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Columbus and Armstrong Venn Diagram: Explorers: Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong - page 1

Columbus and Armstrong Venn Diagram: Explorers: Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong - page 2

Columbus and Armstrong Venn Diagram: Explorers: Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong - page 3

Curriculum objectives covered

Lives of significant individuals

“The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements, some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry, Rosa Parks and Emily Davison, Mary Seacole and/or Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell]”

Columbus and Armstrong are one of the example pairs named in this statement. The 16 cards compare a journey in 1492 with one in 1969, from wooden ships to a spacesuit.

What's inside this worksheet

Fact card sort

Pupils read 16 cards, including Used the Santa Maria, Collected Moon rocks and Needed a crew. They write each one in the correct column of a three-column table.

Think Like a Historian

Two written questions. Pupils say which card was the trickiest to place and why, then add one fact of their own to each of the three groups.

Answers

The completed table, notes on three cards that cause debate, and sample new facts such as Born in Italy and Travelled with Buzz Aldrin.

How teachers use it

Hoops on the floor

Lay two PE hoops so they overlap and let groups place the 16 cards. The overlap becomes the Both Explorers column when they copy the result onto the sheet.

Argue the tricky one

Hold back Set off from America and Looked for new routes. Ask pairs to defend a column for each card before you share the notes in the answer key.

Timeline gap

After the sort, mark 1492 and 1969 on the class timeline. Pupils see the 477 years between the two journeys.

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