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"Is it the Tuarts and then the Studors or the other way round?" The importance of developing a usable big picture of the past
Teaching History article
What should pupils know and understand as a result of their historical studies? This question is much in the news currently and too often quickly posed and glibly answered. In this article, Jonathan Howson poses this problem in the light of an ongoing research tradition that has sought complex answers...
"Is it the Tuarts and then the Studors or the other way round?" The importance of developing a usable big picture of the past
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Putting Catlin in his place?
Teaching History article
Jess Landy’s desire to introduce her pupils to a more complex narrative of the American West led her to the life story and work of a remarkable individual, George Catlin.
In this article she shows how she used this unusual micro-narrative in order to challenge pupils’ ideas not just about the bigger narrative of which it is a part, but about the...
Putting Catlin in his place?
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Year 7 use musical language to think about King John
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
As an enthusiastic musician, Alison Meikle is always looking for ways to use music in the history classroom. While Teaching History has seen plenty of articles on using musical sources as evidence (e.g. Mastin in Teaching...
Year 7 use musical language to think about King John
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'I've started... So I'll finish' Top tips on teaching history from the Historical Association's Bristol Centenary Conference
Article
Isn’t it fantastic that on a cold and brisk Saturday in early March a doggedly determined crew of mad historians can find solace within the fantastic portals of the Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol? All were there to learn something new, to share good practice and to meet like-minded...
'I've started... So I'll finish' Top tips on teaching history from the Historical Association's Bristol Centenary Conference
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Choosing a topic
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Choosing a topic, creating teaching approaches and choosing resources for historical understanding
The Rose Report places history in the sphere of ‘Historical, Geographical and Social Understanding'. This allows for a more flexible approach to study, especially...
Choosing a topic
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‘Compressing and rendering’: using biography to teach big stories
Teaching History article
In principle, Rachel Foster had long been aware of the value of creating an interplay between depth and overview across the history curriculum. But in practice, as she acknowledges here, she had tended to shy away from telling outline stories that encompassed a big chronological or geographical range. Recognising the...
‘Compressing and rendering’: using biography to teach big stories
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The Historian 74: The Uses of History in the 21st Century
Article
Featured articles:
6 The Uses of History In The Twenty First Century - Marjorie Reeves (Read article)
11 Thomas Parkinson, the Hermit of Thirsk - Frank Bottomley (Read article)
17 The Urban Working Classes in England 1880-1914 - Eric Hopkins (Read article)
25 Bertrand Russell’s Role in the Cuban Missile...
The Historian 74: The Uses of History in the 21st Century
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Beyond Multiple Choice: Questions and Answers, Pedagogy and Technology in the History classroom
E-CPD
*This unit was produced a number of years ago and whilst still relevant from the pedagogy side of things many of the ICT aspects are outdated.
Interactivity: A Grail-like QuestIn recent years the buzzword in many sectors, whether it be business, communications, entertainment or education, has been interactivity. One of...
Beyond Multiple Choice: Questions and Answers, Pedagogy and Technology in the History classroom
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Scott's 5-stage model for progression in conceptual understanding of causation
Model
The following model examines progression in learning within a particular domain - cause and consequence. The Teaching History Research Group produced a series of stage descriptions which they tell us were based on a mixture of "personal experience, observation in many schools, discussions with teacher and research findings". It is...
Scott's 5-stage model for progression in conceptual understanding of causation
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Year 7 use oral traditions to make claims about the rise and fall of the Inka empire
Teaching History article
As part of her department’s effort to diversify the history curriculum, Paula Worth began a quest to research and then shape a lesson sequence around the Inkas. Her article shows how she allowed the new topic and its historiography to challenge and extend her own use of sources, particularly oral tradition....
Year 7 use oral traditions to make claims about the rise and fall of the Inka empire
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Creativity, Imagination, and Fun in Primary History
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content, references and links are outdated.
Tim Lomas describes a variety of learning activities that primary schools children enjoy.
Creativity, Imagination, and Fun in Primary History
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Elizabethan times: Just banquets and fun?
Primary History article
Although much of the Key Stage 2 history curriculum relates to the period before 1066, we are expected to include 'a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066' (DfE, 2013,p.5)
This raises two questions:a) How can a post-1066 topic be related...
Elizabethan times: Just banquets and fun?
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What’s The Wisdom On... Extended Reading
Teaching History feature
Why, in a history lesson (or out of a history lesson; let’s say, for a homework perhaps) might we want pupils to read more than a paragraph, to stay with the text, to actually read? We don’t mean plucking facts from information boxes, nor ploughing through four comprehension questions. We...
What’s The Wisdom On... Extended Reading
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Beyond the boundaries of the Lake District
Historian article
This article responds to recent changes in the size and status of the Lake District National Park by considering the historical interconnectedness of the Lake District with the region that surrounds it. Drawing on visual and verbal responses to the landscape of the Lakes region, Christopher Donaldson reveals how historical...
Beyond the boundaries of the Lake District
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Using the back cover image: Communications
Primary History feature
Exploring the everyday objects that shaped our lives in the not too distant past can prove to be exciting historical challenges for primary age children. While we might remember or be familiar with the objects and their use, they can provide confusion for children. This is in part because of...
Using the back cover image: Communications
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Building a better past: plans to reform the curriculum
Teaching History article
David Nicholls summarises some of the problems facing history education and offers a commentary on various cases for reform. He argues that we need to look at provision holistically from 5 to 21 and urges collaboration across phases and sectors. By working more closely together, the history community as a...
Building a better past: plans to reform the curriculum
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When was the post-war?
Article
There is a peculiar tension at the heart of scholarship about the years and decades after the Second World War. On the one hand, the political developments following the breakdown of the war-time alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union have spawned an enormous literature, in parts as old...
When was the post-war?
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The Coronation of King Charles III
Resources for secondary schools
2023 will see the first coronation of a British monarch for 70 years. Only those now in their 70s or above will remember the last one. The UK is the only country in Europe still to carry out a coronation, a ceremony that has its roots in traditions over a...
The Coronation of King Charles III
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Teaching the Historic Environment
Guidance for teaching the Historic Environment in new GCSE courses
The GCSE History criteria specify that the courses should cover three geographical contexts: local, British and European/wider world. The requirement to include some local history has been developed into the study of a locality in its Historic Environment. This has been developed in four different ways by the Awarding bodies...
Teaching the Historic Environment
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Scheme of Work: Brunel
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 1 History (unresourced)
At Key Stage 1, pupils are asked to examine the lives of significant individuals who have also contributed to national achievements. A study of Isambard Kingdom Brunel provides a fascinating example of an individual whose technological and engineering advances have helped to shape the face of Britain.
Children can identify...
Scheme of Work: Brunel
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The International Journal Volume 5 Number 1
Journal
François AudigierHistory in the Curriculum
Nadine Fink Pupils' Conceptions of History and History Teaching
Philippe HaeberliRelating to History: an Empirical Typology
Peter LeeHistorical Literacy
Keith Barton and Alan W. McCullyLearning History and Inheriting the Past: the Interaction of School and Community Perspectives in Northern Ireland
...
The International Journal Volume 5 Number 1
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Triumphs Show 144: Active learning to engage ‘challenging students'
Teaching History feature
Active learning to engage and challenge ‘challenging students'
Historical significance may have been the ‘forgotten element' in 2002 when Rob Phillips first offered us the acronym ‘GREAT', but it has been seized upon with enthusiasm by the history education community. Christine Counsell's now famous five ‘R's (remarkable, remembered, resonant, resulting...
Triumphs Show 144: Active learning to engage ‘challenging students'
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Why are there so many ‘mummies’ in Western museums?
Primary History article
Richard Harris invites us to consider how the teaching of ancient Egypt can be decolonised by considering non-Western perspectives. The article provides a fascinating viewpoint on this popular period of history and shares examples of how this can be explored with children.
One of the joys of working in history...
Why are there so many ‘mummies’ in Western museums?
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Archaeology on the edge
Historian article
Major archaeological projects can be complex affairs, in terms of their funding, governance and the wide range of historical and technological expertise they require. Here National Trust archaeologist Kathy Laws describes the intricacies and successes of a multi-organisational project at an Iron Age site in north Wales. The challenges of the...
Archaeology on the edge
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Connecting poetry, philosophy and landscapes in Ancient China
Historian article
It is unusual for historians to focus primarily on poetry to provide insights into the past societies they are studying. Here Nicholas Tyldesley explains the value of poetry to help us understand the ideas, values and some important historical events in Ancient China, with a particular focus on poets Li...
Connecting poetry, philosophy and landscapes in Ancient China
