-
Drama and story telling
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Everyone loves a story - especially a story well told. To encourage learning all primary teachers should consider the creative art of telling a story, as well as developing a variety of ways of interacting through...
Drama and story telling
-
Planning a history unit of work from scratch
Primary History article
In this article, Rachel wrestles with one of the greatest challenges facing teachers. With the starting point maybe no more than a title or mass of content, how do you begin the process of formulating an exciting and worthwhile teaching programme? It aims to give some tips and ideas to...
Planning a history unit of work from scratch
-
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in primary history – take CARE!
Primary History article
Teaching has embraced many revolutionary changes before: the photocopier, the calculator, the internet, even the smartboard! The Assistant Director-General of UNESCO (2023) though feels that these could pale into insignificance when compared to the rise of AI. This article looks at ways in which Generative AI might be used by...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in primary history – take CARE!
-
Using the back cover image: Windmill Hill
Primary History feature
The back cover image is a reconstruction of prehistoric life based on the English Heritage site Windmill Hill. Such images are of great value to the teacher in bringing the distant past to life, and in deepening pupil understanding of its historical significance. Using these sorts of illustrations can help...
Using the back cover image: Windmill Hill
-
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...
Teaching diversity through drama
-
Scheme of work: The history of the ancient Olympic Games
Sporting Heritage scheme of work for primary history (Key Stage 2)
This unit produced by Sporting Heritage is designed flexibly as either a chronological or a thematic study. As such, its editable core PowerPoint resources can be used as a depth or extended overview topic in relation to:
Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and the Greeks’...
Scheme of work: The history of the ancient Olympic Games
-
Thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning
Primary History article
Creative curricular planning With the National Curriculum under review, it seems that more schools are taking a creative approach to planning by delivering the curriculum through a focused theme or topic. This has allowed schools to take more ownership of the curriculum and has helped teachers become more innovative in their...
Thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning
-
History in England’s primary schools: What do secondary history teachers need to know?
HA Update
What’s been happening in primary history lately? Invited to write an update on this, I decided to identify some themes that might be helpful to secondary teachers.
As a senior lecturer in primary education with responsibility for history and as a member of the HA Primary Committee, I was able...
History in England’s primary schools: What do secondary history teachers need to know?
-
‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context
Primary History article
All too often Anne Frank becomes a symbol, used to show ‘the triumph of hope over evil’, even though she was killed during the Holocaust. Sometimes she is quoted utterly out of context to provide uplifting sentiments, or short phrases with redemptive messages.
What this lesson sets out to do...
‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context
-
Doing history with objects - A museum's role
Primary History case study
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...
Doing history with objects - A museum's role
-
One of my favourite history places: Bournville
Article
One of my favourite places is Bournville Village in the south of Birmingham – every time I go there it feels as if I am entering a different world, away from the noise and bustle of the city. Less than five minutes' walk away from the tourist attraction of Cadbury World is the village...
One of my favourite history places: Bournville
-
The history of medicine – warts and all – for Key Stage 2
Primary History article
The story of the history of medicine is HUGE! In fact, it’s a story within story within a story…
You only have to note the substantial amounts that have been written on the subject in the past, to realise that this is a story that could baffle and perplex even...
The history of medicine – warts and all – for Key Stage 2
-
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 76
Posters: Communication and Sutton Hoo helmet
1. Communication Across the Ages; 2. The British Museum's Sutton Hoo Helmet
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 76
-
Teaching history and geography together in a meaningful way
WHEN 2 + 2 = 5!
This article explores some of the ways history and geography can be taught side by side, so that the sum of the parts adds up to more than the original. How can we teach history with geography and vice versa, to the benefit of both, while fulfilling the aims of...
Teaching history and geography together in a meaningful way
-
Joan of Arc - Saint, Witch or Warrior?
Transition Training Session 4
This is the 4th of 5 sessions arising from the 2005 KS2-KS3 History Transitions Project:
Transition training session 1: Historical Enquiries & Interpretations
Transition training session 2: Using ICT in the teaching of history
Transition training session 3: Extended writing in history
Transition training session 4: Joan of Arc - Saint,...
Joan of Arc - Saint, Witch or Warrior?
-
What do we mean by Big Picture History?
Primary History article
Perhaps the best way to start thinking about Big Picture history is to say what it is not - it is not about rote learning dates or remembering ‘famous people and events' - Alfred the Great, The Battle of Hastings, Henry VIII, Florence Nightingale ....and so on! This factual knowledge...
What do we mean by Big Picture History?
-
Understanding Chronology at Key Stage 2
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Introduction - Issues and Concerns
Was I wise to accept the invitation to write this piece? There has been little research to shed light on the question [of what understanding of chronology can we expect of...
Understanding Chronology at Key Stage 2
-
Eweka's story: Benin and Big Picture History
Article
The prospect of teaching Benin as a non-European Study within the time frame 900-1300 AD is challenging! Traditional oral evidence suggests that the critical event during this period in Benin's past was a transition from the Ogiso to the Eweka Dynasty, named after its first Oba, which resulted in it...
Eweka's story: Benin and Big Picture History
-
Smooth transitions: Key Stage 2 to 3
Primary History article
Transitions. Pivotal points in a child’s life and a phase in the educational journey that should be celebrated. How do we ensure that transitions are efficiently prepared for, when an ever increasing list of school pressures means that transitions can feel like the poor relation in the list of priorities?...
Smooth transitions: Key Stage 2 to 3
-
Promoting talk during history lessons
Article
There are various reasons why pupils should be offered the opportunity to converse together during history. It can definitely be enjoyable for pupils to talk together and it helps to teach children how to share ideas. Pupils talking while working in a group may also use their peers' talk to...
Promoting talk during history lessons
-
Little coins, big histories
Primary History article
In this article, Damienne Clarke examines how coins can be used as a focus for history teaching and learning in Key Stage One. She describes the emergence of coins from older systems of bartering, as well as their role as tokens of commemoration for significant people and events. This article provides...
Little coins, big histories
-
Searching for the Shang in Shropshire
Primary History article
The introduction of the new primary curriculum in September 2014 presented a range of challenges for primary schools. Within the history orders for Key Stage 2 were new areas of study including prehistoric Britain as a compulsory study, and new optional study areas of early Islamic civilisation and Shang China....
Searching for the Shang in Shropshire
-
Why stop at the Tudors?
Primary History article
When deciding to teach the topic of Benin to my Year 5 pupils I was somewhat daunted by the fact that I had never taught it before, and I was determined that it be a meaningful experience which benefited their narrative, chronological and historical skills-based understanding of the subject. I was...
Why stop at the Tudors?
-
A History of the World: 100 objects that tell a story
Primary History article
‘A History of the World in 100 Objects' was the most creative, imaginative and dynamic development in primary History Education for thirty years. It ties in perfectly with and supports the government's draft NC for History...
A History of the World: 100 objects that tell a story
-
Pupils as apprentice historians (3)
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Spring 2008 issue of this magazine, Visual Literacy, highlighted the excellent practice in using visual historical sources that exists in many primary schoolsWe should strive to preserve and extend this critical use of visuals, whatever...
Pupils as apprentice historians (3)
