SERIES: Power, Propaganda and Manipulation

S1-S3

60–90 minutes

Propaganda: How Governments and Groups Shape Public Opinion

Propaganda is designed to promote a cause, viewpoint or response. It can use emotion, identity, repetition, selective information and striking visuals — but seeing a persuasive message does not automatically tell us whether people believed it or changed their behaviour. You will work with real archive sources to analyse how propaganda is constructed and […]

Propaganda: How Governments and Groups Shape Public Opinion

Your Mission

Create a propaganda analysis showing how a real message tries to shape what an audience notices, feels and believes — without assuming persuasion automatically works.

You will analyse historical propaganda from an archive, identify techniques in context, distinguish evidence about a message from assumptions about its effect and create an evidence-based case file.

The Shape of This Challenge

Discover

Observe & decode

Explore

✏️ Compare & verify

Create

Build the case

Reflect

️ Question impact

Discover

Read the source before deciding what it means.

Step 1

Message, Audience, Goal

Source observation · 10–12 mins

We are learning to analyse a propaganda source before jumping to conclusions about its effect.

Your Task

Open The National Archives: Wartime Propaganda.
Choose one source from the collection.
Record only what you can observe: words, images, symbols, people shown, people absent and emotional tone.
Then identify the likely audience and goal using the source context.
Keep what the source contains separate from what you think an audience might do.

I can separate observable features of a propaganda source from assumptions about audience response.

→ This gives you a disciplined source analysis for the final case file.

Media LiteracyHistorical ResearchObservation

Step 2

Build a Technique Toolkit

✏️ Label the method · 8–10 mins

We are learning to recognise common persuasive techniques without treating them as magic buttons.

Your Task

Create six technique cards: emotion, repetition, selective evidence, symbols/identity, enemy or threat framing and simple slogan.
Match any techniques that genuinely appear in your Step 1 source.
For each match, record the exact feature that supports your judgement.
Cross out any technique you cannot actually evidence in the source.

I can identify propaganda techniques from specific evidence rather than from a checklist alone.

→ This gives you precise labels for explaining how the message is constructed.

Critical ThinkingMedia AnalysisEvidence Use

Explore

Compare messages and test how far the evidence really lets you go.

Step 3

Compare Two Messages

️ Side-by-side analysis · 10–12 mins

We are learning to compare how persuasive messages change for different audiences or purposes.

Your Task

Choose a second source from the National Archives pack.
Draw two columns and compare: audience, goal, emotion, evidence/information, visual choices and call to action.
Circle one similarity and one important difference.
Write: “The message changes because the audience/purpose changes by…”

I can compare two propaganda sources using evidence about audience, purpose and technique.

→ This gives your final analysis comparison rather than a single isolated example.

ComparisonMedia LiteracyCommunication

Step 4

Did It Work? Be Careful

Evidence check · 10–12 mins

We are learning to distinguish analysis of persuasive design from evidence that persuasion changed behaviour.

Your Task

Write two headings: What the source proves and What would need more evidence.
Under the first, include facts such as who produced it, what it says and the technique used.
Under the second, include claims such as everyone believed it, it changed public opinion or it caused people to act unless you have separate evidence.
Write one kind of evidence a historian would need to study actual impact: polling, diaries, letters, behaviour data, repeated exposure, policy records or later research.

I can explain why a persuasive message is evidence of an attempt to influence, not automatic proof that it succeeded.

→ This gives your final case file the evidence discipline strong media analysis needs.

Evidence EvaluationHistorical ThinkingCritical Thinking

Create

Turn your archive evidence into a careful media-analysis case.

Step 5

Build the Propaganda Case

✏️ Plan first · Then create · 30–40 mins

We are learning to communicate how propaganda is constructed while keeping claims about effect evidence-based.

Before You Create

Name the two sources you analysed.
Choose the strongest technique from each.
Include one important audience or purpose difference.
Include your Step 4 warning about what the sources do not prove.
Choose one format below and create the finished analysis.

Propaganda Case File

250–300 words · 2 archive sources

⏱ 30–40 mins

Use Audience → Goal → Techniques → Evidence → What we cannot prove.

Annotated Source Analysis

1 page · 5 labelled features + 100–150 words

⏱ 30–40 mins

Annotate one source, then add a small comparison box for the second source and a clear evidence-limit statement.

How the Message Is Built

3–4 slides · maximum 25–30 words per slide

⏱ 30–40 mins

Separate construction of the message from claims about its impact.

I can create a sourced analysis explaining how propaganda tries to shape attention, emotion and belief without overstating its effect.

→ This is your finished mission output.

Content CreationMedia LiteracyHistorical Analysis

Step 6

Reflect, Apply, Look Forward

️ Talk or think quietly · 5–8 mins

We are learning to transfer historical media-analysis skills into modern information environments.

Reflect

Which propaganda technique was easiest to spot, and which required more context?

Apply

How could you analyse a persuasive modern message without immediately labelling everyone who sees it as manipulated?

Look Forward

What extra evidence would you want before claiming a campaign changed public opinion?

I can separate persuasive intent, message design and actual audience impact.

→ You’ve completed the challenge by analysing propaganda as evidence, not as a magical explanation for what people think.

ReflectionMedia LiteracyCritical Thinking

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TOOLKIT

The National Archives wartime propaganda resource: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/wartime-propaganda/

Educator / Parent Notes

Age, Stage and Prior Learning: Designed for S1–S3 at Developing level. The National Archives resource is suitable for KS3 and provides source context and teacher notes.

Before You Start: Preview archive sources and select material appropriate for your group. The challenge analyses existing propaganda; learners are not asked to create propaganda.

How to Open This: Show or describe a historical poster and ask: “What can this source prove immediately — and what would we need more evidence to know?”

Scheduling: Steps 1–2 analyse one source, Steps 3–4 compare and evaluate evidence, Step 5 is the production block. Allow 60–90 minutes.

If a Pupil Gets Stuck: Provide the six technique cards and require learners to evidence only two or three that genuinely appear. Do not reward checklist matching without source evidence.

For Fast Finishers: Ask learners what evidence would be needed to test audience impact and whether that evidence would be equally available for a 1940s campaign and a modern digital campaign.

Marking Guidance: Look for source observation, audience/purpose context, evidence-based technique identification, comparison of two sources and a clear distinction between an attempt to persuade and evidence that persuasion worked.

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Propaganda: How Governments and Groups Shape Public Opinion

Propaganda: How Governments and Groups Shape Public Opinion

Discover

Message, Audience, Goal

Build a Technique Toolkit

Explore

Compare Two Messages

Did It Work? Be Careful

Create

Build the Propaganda Case

Reflect, Apply, Look Forward

Propaganda: How Governments and Groups Shape Public Opinion

Propaganda: How Governments and Groups Shape Public Opinion

TOOLKIT

Educator / Parent Notes

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