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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!
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Disability in primary history teaching
Primary History article
This article is based on a session by Bev Forrest and Mel Jones at the HA Conference in May 2024. The central concern is to support teachers to weave the experiences and lives of disabled people in the past into the primary curriculum. It looks at possible opportunities in EYFS, Key Stage 1...
Disability in primary history teaching
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Active learners: classroom strategies for enhancing history teaching
Primary History article
Lindsey Rawes has provided a range of activities which she uses with children to engage them in developing their historical knowledge and understanding. She has included retrieval practice, engaging children as detectives when looking at artefacts, and evaluating the understanding of historical questions through card sorts, considering similarities and differences, and using...
Active learners: classroom strategies for enhancing history teaching
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Were all Romans in Roman Britain from Rome, Miss?
Primary History article
What comes into your mind when you imagine the Romans in Britain? Is it a soldier? Where did they come from? Your first thoughts – from looking at textbooks and re-enactments – might be that they came from Italy. Alf Wilkinson challenges this image and shows that they included men...
Were all Romans in Roman Britain from Rome, Miss?
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Recorded Webinar: New Approaches to Classical Sparta
Article
This webinar starts with a basic overview of the city-states of Classical Greece (roughly 500 to 350 BC) and Sparta’s place within their geography and history. It then looks at some common myths about the nature of Spartan society and politics, focusing on areas where recent research has transformed our...
Recorded Webinar: New Approaches to Classical Sparta
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Dig for sustainability!
Primary History article
Paul Spear uses World War II government advertising strategies such as ‘Make do and Mend’ to consider how to promote modern campaigns related to sustainability. He investigates what the wartime government did to engage with the population as a whole and generate national action. By analysing how images were used...
Dig for sustainability!
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Using indigenous and traditional stories to teach for climate and ecological action
Primary History article
Caitríona Ní Cassaithe and Anne Marie Kavanagh explore how herbs and wild plants were and are used to create natural remedies. They use archive material and oral history to promote and explore indigenous voices. They suggest how this could be applied and developed within your own communities. They also make...
Using indigenous and traditional stories to teach for climate and ecological action
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Creativity and history
Primary History article
Creativity now plays a central role in the English National Curriculum. Pupils ‘Doing History' can draw upon and develop their creativity, grounded in the historical record. Hilary Cooper has produced the first book on History & Creativity and guest edited a recent edition of Primary History, PH 63, on History and...
Creativity and history
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History and language
Primary History article
Literacy was at the heart of the Nuffield Primary History Project. The paper below summarises the eight linguistic areas which were a major focus. Here there is considerable congruence with the proposed 2014 NC for English and Literacy with its language across the curriculum focus...
History and language
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Teaching famous people at key stage one
Primary History article
The draft English NC for history highlights the study of ‘significant individuals and people'. Michelle Dexter provides an insight on how to approach this biographical requirement; it also opens up biography as a major genre for pupils to master - augmenting their development of literacy...
Teaching famous people at key stage one
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Urban spaces near you
Primary History article
The public spaces in built up areas contain a rich collection of historical clues about our identity - the way in which the past has framed the present. Such spaces are available for all pupils to study in all areas. Jacqui introduces this fascinating and valuable aspect of our historical...
Urban spaces near you
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History and identity
Article
A sense of identity is at the heart of the proposed new NC for History. Sir Keith explores what this means for immigrant children of mixed heritage who grew up in Britain. Significantly, the last sentence of his paper dovetails with the government's views...
History and identity
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Creating effective history displays
Primary History article
Having been an history co-ordinator for over 15 years, I was fortunate enough to be able to plan a wide range of history displays which covered multiple periods. I enjoyed it because, for me, it provided the opportunity to inspire, inform and provoke a response. When preparing a display, I would...
Creating effective history displays
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Ufton Court
Visit
Ufton Court, an Elizabethan Grade 1 Manor House between Reading and Newbury, is an inspirational centre for schools. The Ufton team lead residential and day visits for KS2 that aim to give children a passion for history.
Find out more: https://www.uftoncourt.org.uk/
Ufton Court
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Ukraine, children and schools
Primary History article
Children of different ages and maturity will have different levels of understanding and capacity for processing the information unfolding in Ukraine. Children under the age of five may have a very limited understanding of the conflict in Ukraine. If your young child asks you a question about what is happening, you...
Ukraine, children and schools
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Crime and Punishment - Roman to Early Modern
Podcast
This podcast gives you an overview of the main changes and continuities in crime, punishment, trials and policing between the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Early Modern Period.
Rome to Early Modern Crime and Punishment>>>
Crime and Punishment - Roman to Early Modern
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Crime & Punishment - Factors and Time Periods
Podcast
The history of crime and punishment across time spreads over 2500 years. It is really important that you have a way of making sense of this. In this podcast you will hear how the course has been divided into time periods, and learn about the main factors that affect crime,...
Crime & Punishment - Factors and Time Periods
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Archives in Primary History
Primary Expert Podcasts
In this series of podcast Sue Temple, Senior Lecturer in Primary History at the University of Cumbria looks at the value of using archives in the primary history classroom:
Archives in Primary History
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Exclusive free resource samples
Information
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Complete the form below to receive a series of the HA's expert-produced resources, and see first-hand how HA membership can help to build your confidence and transform history teaching in your school.
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Exclusive free resource samples
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An Olympic Great? Dorando Pietri
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Italian confectioner Dorando Pietri is one of the most famous figures from the 1908 Olympics - famous for not winning. His story raises issues of sportsmanship suitable for class discussion. There are detailed accounts readily...
An Olympic Great? Dorando Pietri
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Riding along on my pushbike… exploring transport in EYFS
Primary History article
There is a myriad of opportunities for exploring the history of travel and transport in Early Years. You could focus on the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon flight in the late eighteenth century, the invention of steam trains and motor cars in the nineteenth century, or even the space race...
Riding along on my pushbike… exploring transport in EYFS
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Resources for courses: ideas for your history curriculum
Primary History article
In times of tight budgets and with the new financial year on the horizon in April, now might be a good time to look at different ways to resource your history curriculum effectively. Alongside all the resources for teachers available from Primary History and the HA website, the following list...
Resources for courses: ideas for your history curriculum
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Ordinary Roman life
Primary History article
How do we make connections with past lives through authentic artefacts? My research evidence suggests that pupils do not really like having to imagine they are an evacuee or a Roman (for example), but do like engaging with and thinking about the reality of past lives. It has been surprising...
Ordinary Roman life
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One of my favourite history places: Durham Cathedral
Primary History feature
The best thing about Durham Cathedral is how it impresses on every scale and from every viewpoint. As you approach the city by train, it looms over the skyline hugging the River Wear and even dwarfing its imposing neighbour, Durham Castle. When you finally make the steep walk up towards cathedral green, the building towers above...
One of my favourite history places: Durham Cathedral
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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