Viking Ships: Teacher's guide

Warrior and battle

This exercise contains problems, suggestions for written work and practical activities, in addition to the worksheet The Vikings' bow and arrow which includes instructions for making your own hunting arrow and acting out the role-play The Battle for England.

This exercise deals with topics such as:

• The warship's equipment
• The Viking warrior and his equipment
• Normans versus Saxons/English
• The Viking Age versus modern times
• The Battle for England
• The Vikings in England

The following places and subjects described on the Sea Stallion website may help in solving the exercise: Holumen and crew, Clontarf, Iona, The Vikings in England, Written sources for the Viking Age, Iconographic sources for the Viking Age, Hastings, Stamford Bridge, The battle for England, Aggersborg and the role-play The Battle for England. Also use the library and the Internet for further inspiration and information. For example www.youtube.com contains a series of video clips from 2006 showing Viking re-enactment groups recreating elements from The Battle of Hastings 1066.

This exercise can be used for both the ages 10-15 and 16-20, by setting appropriate sets of questions and activities.

The exercise, or parts of it, may overlap with several different study projects, for example The Vikings' Warship, The Vikings in England, The Battle for England, Sources for the Viking Age, and can therefore be used in combination with several other exercises from the Sea Stallion's home page; for example Ship building, The Vikings in England, The Battle for England, Who writes history? and Historical criticism

Subjects: Woodwork, Art, History, English, General studies

Suitable for age: 10-15 & 16-20 years.

The Norse gods

This exercise contains problems and suggestions for a practical activity as well as the worksheet The Hammer of Thor made of bone.

It deals with topics such as:

• The Norse gods
• Superstition 
• Heathen parties and rituals

The following places and subjects described on the Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: The Norse gods, Christianity comes to Denmark, Christianity and foreign policy, Written sources for the Viking Age, Colonsay, Brough of Birsay, Scar, St. Magnus Cathedral, Haithabu and Aarhus. Let the pupils use the library and the Internet for inspiration and to find extra information. There are some good children's books about the Norse gods by Lars Henrik Olsen.

This exercise is intended for the ages 10-13 but some parts are appropriate for the ages 16-20 when combined with other exercises from the Sea Stallion's website.

The exercise can, for example, be combined with the following from the Sea Stallion's website: When the Danes became Christians and The heathen barbarians.

Subjects: Religious studies, English, History.

Suitable for age: 10-13 & 16-20 years.

Runes

This exercise contains problems, suggestions for practical activities and written work as well as the worksheet The runic alphabet.

The exercise deals with topics such as:

• Runes
• Written sources for the Viking Age
• Ornamentation/picture stones in the Viking Age 

The following places and subjects described on the Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the excercise: Maes Howe, Haithabu, Aarhus, Crown and State, Christianity comes to Denmark, Written sources for the Viking Age and Iconographic sources for the Viking Age. The pupils should also seek material and inspiration in the library and on the Internet, i.e. examples of runic and picture stones.

This exercise can be used for all ages – with the setting of appropriate questions and activities.

For the ages 10-13 the exercise can, for example, be linked with some parts of A good story, Stories aboard, Who writes history and The heathen barbariansin a project about story tellers and written sources from the Viking Age.

Some parts of the above exercises, as well as Historical criticism, can be combined in a project on written sources for the ages 15-20.

This exercise can also be combined with work on written characters and language in various parts of the world through time.

Subjects: Art, History, English.

Suitable for age: 10-13 & 15-20 years.

Ship building

This exercise contains problems, suggestions for practical activities and the worksheet Viking colours.

The exercise deals with topics such as:

• Ship building in the Viking Age
• Sources for the Viking Age
• The Vikings' colours
• The Sea Stallion then and now
• The Sea Stallion – an experimental-archaeological project

The following subjects, places and logs on the Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: Boatswain's diary, Skipper's logbook, Archaeological sources, Iconographic sources, Dublin, Roskilde. See also the introduction about Longships in detail. The ship's news from the expedition to Dublin 2007/2008 may also provide inspiration. 

This exercise can be used for all ages – by setting appropriate questions and activities.

A project on experimental archaeology and the sources of information about ship building in the Viking Age is an obvious way of adopting a problem-oriented approach to studies of the past, especially for the ages 15-20. Parts of the exercises about Sailing and The square sail can also be linked in with this project. The data collected in the logs and the experiences recorded from the expedition enable the pupils to evaluate whether the reconstruction of Skuldelev 2 is a success. They can also assess the information the vessel can reveal about ship building and society in the Viking Age.

For the ages 10-15 a project on the ship's construction, materials, craftsmen, rigging and decoration can be supplemented with some of the practical activities. Questions about sources on ship building in the Viking Age can easily be included here.

Subjects: Science and technology, Woodwork, History, General Studies.

Suitable for age: 10-20 years.

Skipper’s law

This exercise contains problems and suggestions for written work.

It deals with topics such as:

• Organisation of the ship
• Coxswain and Skipper
• Life on board
• Sources for the Viking Age 

The following articles on The Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: Holumen and crew, Styrimaðr and Skipper, Archaeological sources for the Viking Age, Iconographic sources for the Viking Age, Written sources for the Viking Age. Logs and diaries from the voyage to Dublin 2007/2008 and the Armchair comments may also provide inspiration.

The exercise can for example form part of a project about life on board, together with the exercises The duty roster, Sea fare, Stories aboard and Sailing.

This exercise could also be included in a project about the sources of information we have for the Viking Age. The archaeological, pictorial and written sources are all able to provide different information about the Vikings. They each have, however, their advantages and disadvantages; these could be discussed during lessons. The Gulating Law, which is mentioned in this exercise, was written down after the Viking Age. Which problems can this present and why?

Subjects: History, Science and Technology, English.

Suitable for age: 10-15 years.

Games

This exercise contains suggestions for practical activities as well as the worksheet Nine men's morris and Tic Tac Toe.

It deals with topics such as:

• Viking leisure time
• Life on board
• Games

The following places and articles on the Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: Holumen and crew, Lewis and Aarhus. Pupils can find rules for other games from the Viking Age, such as Hnefatafl and Kub, on the Internet.

Subjects: Art, History.

Suitable for age: 10-15 years.

The appearance of the Viking

This exercise contains problems and suggestions for practical activities as well as the worksheet Thor's hammer made of bone.

It deals with topics such as:

• The Viking's appearance
• The Viking's clothes
• The Viking's jewellery
• Sources on the Vikings' appearance, clothes and jewellery
• Images of the Viking

The following places and themes on the Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: Lindholm Høje, Ballyholme, Dublin, Larne, Caithness, Isle of Man, Eigg, Iona, Lewis, Colonsay, Brough of Birsay, Scar, Archaeological sources for the Viking Age, What did the Vikings look like?, Iconographic sources for the Viking Age and Barber-surgeon and nurse.

Encourage the pupils to use the library and the Internet for further studies. Direct them towards information on burial sites and various pictorial representations from the Viking Age, for example The Mammen Grave, The Bayeux Tapestry and the Gotlandic picture stones.

Teaching could begin with the pupils being asked to draw or paint their own interpretation of a Viking. Later, the pupils can find pictorial representations of Vikings from various periods or contexts (or the teacher can find and provide these). Use these, together with their own drawings, as a basis for a discussion of why the Vikings have been perceived and represented differently in different periods and in different situations.

The exercise is primarily intended for the ages 10-15 but the theme on Images of the Viking could be used for the ages 16-20 by forming the basis for a discussion of our (mis)use of the past in the present and our historical consciousness. SeeImages of the Vikingand the linked questionnaire. The teaching course Images of the Viking can also be booked at the Viking Ship Museum.

Subjects: Needlework, Art, Science and Technology, History, English.

Suitable for age: 10-20 years.

Handling abilities (several exercises)

A series of exercises has been produced which aim to analyse The Sea Stallion’s handling abilities under sail and oar power respectively. In other words, the pupil is able to carry out him- or herself much of the research which the Viking Ship Museum is to embark upon after the voyage to Dublin. The exercises are best tackled in the order shown, and it is a good idea to present the results together in a final report.

The data set to be processed comprises the ship’s geographic co-ordinates (recorded with the aid of a GPS) as well as a series of other navigational and meteorological measurements. All of this is assembled in a zipped, semicolon separated text file Datalogger which can be downloaded from Tools in the right hand column of the exercise. This table can be used as the basis for a large number of exercises involving data validation, source criticism, searching and sorting, calculations and column updates and much more. The exercises are best executed with the aid of a spreadsheet and/or GIS and can be incorporated in a wider teaching context dealing with, for example, the GPS system, statistics and cartography.

Maximum speed deals with sorting and querying of data, averaging of data and, not least, scientific source criticism! This exercise can be used in a course about GPS navigation. Use can be made of the Internet’s many good websites about the structure and function of the GPS system.

Rowing deals similarly with searching or sorting the data and leads up to putting this into perspective with the aid of information searches on the rest of the site.

In Tacking abilities a calculation has to be made of the difference between the wind direction and the steered course (Geography: also possible to query the relationship between the steered course, BoatHdg, and course made good, COG). If this exercise is solved using a spreadsheet, it is necessary to create a formula which accommodates positive and negative angles greater than 180º. Subsequently, a simple sorting exercise is involved in finding the minimum value for the measurements when the ship is under sail. It may be a good idea to focus on a tacking stage or tacking attempt: for example the 13^th and 20^th July and the 2^nd August.

Turns is an analysis of how much speed The Sea Stallion loses in a turn. The exercise can either be solved on paper or the route can be drawn as a graph in a spreadsheet but it is a good idea to use GIS. For example, a thematic map can be drawn with the speed as a z-value depicted by a colour or symbol. When solving on paper it is a good idea to convert the geographic co-ordinates to a metric co-ordinate system. It is easiest to concentrate on an actual tacking attempt: see 30^th July and 2^nd August.

The speed diagram is a very direct expression of the ship’s handling abilities and is a good example of a practical application of a polar diagram. The core of the exercise lies in sorting of the data so the individual curves only contain measurements taken at the same wind speed and sail area. You could also choose to concentrate on the dates 2^nd - 3^rd August when, off Lagavulin, circular experimental sailing exercises were carried out with the aim of producing a speed diagram. Remember to calculate the angle between the wind direction and the steered course as in Tacking abilities.

GIS and mapping is an introduction to solving the other exercises with the aid of GIS but also leads up to the production of thematic maps and other analyses of the recorded metric data. You could query GPS and the surveillance society against the background of the information about and interpretations of the events on board which it is possible to deduce from the GPS trace.

In all the exercises reference is made to a common Help for exercises about sailing abilities from which it is also possible to reach a description of the methods and aims of the experimental voyages.

Subjects: Maths, physics, geography, general study.

Level: Sixth form/A level.

Sailing

This exercise contains problems and suggestions for written work and practical activities, in addition to the worksheet Vikings' knots, as well as a link to a 3D model of the Sea Stallion where various sail settings can be tried out.

The exercise deals with topics such as:

• Sails on a Viking ship
• The ship's speed and manoeuvrability
• The ship's log
• Sailing

The following logs, diaries and features on the Sea Stallion's home page may help in solving the exercise: Boatswain's diary, Skipper's logbook, Iconographic sources. Further to these, other diaries and stories from the ship's voyage to Dublin in 2007/2008 may provide inspiration.

On the Sea Stallion's website you also find the exercises: Dead reckoning, The square sail, Natural or intuitive navigation and The sun compass. These can be combined with this exercise in a project on the Vikings' ships and navigation. The class can also complement this with a trip on a reconstruction of a Viking ship at the Viking Ship Museum. For further information contact the Education Department at the Viking Ship Museum.

The exercise can be used for the ages 10-20 – by setting appropriate sets of questions and activities. For the ages 16-20 the exercise is most relevant in combination with some of the other suggested exercises from the website.

Subjects: Science and Technology, Maths, History, General Studies.

Suitable for age: 10-20 years.

Sea fare

This exercise contains problems, suggestions for written work, the computer game SEA STALLION ATTACK and the worksheet Food in the Viking Age.

The exercise deals with topics such as:

• Sea fare in the Viking Age
• The ship's logistics
• The Sea Stallion then and now
• Physical performance
• Food in the Viking Age 

The following page on the Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: Matsveina and cook, but consult in particular the diaries from the voyage to Dublin 2007/2008. Use the library and the Internet to obtain further information.

This exercise could, for example, form part of a project on the life on board together with the exercises The duty roster, Skipper's law, Games, Stories aboard and Sailing.

This exercise is an obvious conclusion for studies of the Viking Age. A proper party – Viking style – is recommended as a finale.

Subjects: Home economics, Science and technology, History.

Suitable for age: 10-20 years

Dead reckoning

This exercise works with ordinary multiplication using the formula D=V*t. It deals with topics such as:

• Subtracting two points from each other and converting hours and minutes to decimal hours
• Calculating distance as a product of speed and time
• Plotting angles with a protractor.
• Plotting distances to scale.

When this problem has been solved you can proceed to the next part - to find out your speed. The same formula is used, but now speed is the unknown factor.

You can also discuss how time was measured. Try asking a group to count up to 60 seconds in their heads – some using only numbers, others using "one-crate-of-beer, two-crates-of-beer…." , "one elephant, two elephants…." or a similar enumerations – and see who comes closest to the minute mark.

The exercise sheet Dead reckoning should be printed out and you will also need a pencil, a protractor, and possibly a ruler.

Subject: Maths

Suitable for age:  14 – 20 years.

Set and drift

This exercise introduces vectors, graphic addition and subtraction of vectors, the parallelogram of forces.

It can also be used as an introduction to further work with calculus of vectors, for example to introduce co-ordinates.

Discuss whether current triangles may have been used in the Viking Age. Does this make sense when navigating without using a compass marked in degrees? Is it possible to do this mentally so the principle is used in a more intuitive way without allocating precise values? Think of other areas where one compensates without thinking for some force or other – ball games in windy weather…

This exercise can be solved on the exercise sheet Dead reckoning.

Subject: Maths.

Suitable for age: 16-20 years.

The duty roster

This exercise contains problems and suggestions for written work.

It deals with topics such as:

• Life on board/the organisation of the ship
• The Sea Stallion then and now
• Physical performance

The following articles on The Sea Stallion's website may help in solving the exercise: Holumen and crew,Styrimaðr and Skipper, Sail and Trim. Logbook and diary notes (see for example under the rooms' diary), as well as news from the ship's voyage to Dublin and Armchair comments may also provide inspiration.

It is obvious to link this exercise with themes about life on board and the Sea Stallion then and now: Skipper's law, Sea fare, Sailing, Stories aboard and Games.

Subjects: History, Science and Technology.

Suitable for age: 10-15 years