Outside the classroom

Working outside the classroom environment gives younger children lots of experiences to develop their understanding. For example a simple walk around the local streets supports their growing understanding of old/new and local history. Experiencing contrasting spaces, for example a castle or cathedral helps them to begin to explore similarities and differences. Visiting historic sites or museums will encourage their language development and communication skills as well as give a context to these discussions.

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  • Churches as a local historical source

    Article

    At Key Stage 1 children should learn about significant events, (e.g. the Great Fire of London) and about people and places in their locality. At Key Stage 2 they should learn about British settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots (e.g. Anglo-Saxon art and culture) and do a local history study (e.g....

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  • Teaching diversity through drama

    Article

    Teaching diversity through drama at the Museum of London: Stories of London people From Roman times to the present, London has been shaped by the diversity of its people. London is home to500 different nationalities, 300 different languages,14 major faiths and a host of other religions. The Museum of London...

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  • Museums, schools and creativity: How learning can be enhanced

    Article

    What do we mean by creativity?In the last few years there has been an emphasis on the ‘creative curriculum', ‘creativity' and ‘creative teaching and learning', but there has not always been a shared understanding of what this means. This article uses the definition from ‘Creativity - find it, promote it'...

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  • Geosong: a transition project

    Article

    How do we engage young people with their Heritage, answer curriculum needs and make that big leap of transition from primary to secondary school that bit easier? English Heritage's Geosong treasure hunt website went some way to providing answers. What does the website do? Using handheld GPS devices, groups must...

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  • Creating the 'creative history' website

    Article

    Editorial note: The role of ICT in the Digital Age is a major, perhaps even, the major factor, in enhancing creativity in the learning and teaching of history. This paper illuminates another dimension of ICT in the Digital Age and creativity. It shows how a teacher's creativity  has produced a...

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  • A creative Egyptian project

    Article

    Ideally when teaching history, teachers will look to deliver projects that will engage and motivate, hopefully making the hard work of being creative stimulating and rewarding, based upon questioning, enquiry, investigation of sources and reaching conclusions grounded in the evidence.Ancient Egypt is one of those history topics which, because it...

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  • Using museums, libraries and art galleries

    Article

    Lessons for Sustainablility: From the Experiences of Early Primary Student Teachers Student teachers, local museums, libraries and art galleries. This article is based on the experiences of student teachers on a BA (Hons) Early Primary Education Programme, during their placements in local Museums, Libraries and Art Galleries. We asked students...

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  • Making use of outstanding resources in museums

    Article

    ‘An embarrassment of riches' is not an inappropriate description of the new ancient Egyptian galleries in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The Ashmolean has always been famous for its Egyptian collection, being the product of the work of Oxford academics for over a 100 years, but the problem in the...

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  • Co-ordinators' concerns: Visits and Ofsted

    Article

    Since Ofsted published its 2012 new guidance for the inspection of schools, it seems that aspects such as visits will not be a high priority. What advice can I give to the senior management team in response to its pressure to avoid these kind of frills? Ofsted will judge the...

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  • A View from the Classroom: Writing History

    Article

    Introduction I imagine many people have memories of staring at a blank piece of paper - and wondering what to write.....and where to start? There are many questions to consider. How do children become eager and confident writers in the context of history? When is writing the best response, and...

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  • The History around us: Local history

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. History is an important aspect of the development of even very young children. They need to begin to develop the foundations of an understanding of the past and how it has developed and affected our present....

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  • Doing history in the early years and foundation stage

    Article

    Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Introducing the youngest children to the concept of history can be a challenging prospect for some foundation stage practitioners, particularly if they feel their experience of the subject has been limited or their own memories of...

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  • Using Spaces Near You

    Article

    Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum; some content may be outdated and links may be broken. Urban spaces such as parks and gardens offer a range of opportunities for children's learning. In these green patches children can investigate, observe, wonder, record and create.

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  • Doing history with objects - A museum's role

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. If you have heard the excited buzz of voices as a class of children enters a museum you will be aware of their potential as inspiring learning spaces. Teaching in a museum context we see this...

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  • Artefacts handling at Brunel's SS Great Britain

    Article

    Editorial note: This article introduces teachers to ss Great Britain as an artefactual teaching resource. It links closely to Teachers TV programmes, see page 30, and should be read in conjunction with them.

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  • Cross Curricular Project on a famous person

    Article

    Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. If you are considering studying someone other than Florence Nightingale you have two basic options. You can either choose a local character who would be more relevant to the children, or you could study someone who...

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  • Planning for history and environmental education

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. As a headteacher, I want my teachers to plan high quality learning experiences for children. By ensuring that lessons are vibrant and exciting, and that stimulate that ‘inbuilt curiosity', we make sure that children encounter...

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  • Case Study: Working with gifted and talented children at an Iron Age hill fort in north Somerset

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. The phone call was over - manna from heaven. The opportunity to work with a ‘real' archaeologist on a ‘real' Iron Age site seemed far too good to be true. The cluster of eight South...

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  • Children's thinking in archaeology

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Young children enjoy prehistory Tactile, Physical and Enactive engagement with archaeological remains stimulates, excites and promotes children's logical, imaginative, creative and deductive thinking. Through archaeology there are infinite opportunities for ‘reasonable guesses' about sources and...

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  • Piecing together the puzzle: Some thoughts on historical sites

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. It is a sad fact that visits to historical sites have become a diminishing feature of primary school children's experience in recent years. Stringent health and safety regulations, tight budgets, exorbitant transport costs...

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