Introduction: Research into chronological understanding Chronological understanding is both one of history's most important disciplinary organising concepts (Lee and Shemilt: 2004) required for developing a full understanding of history, and certainly one of the most researched, though often with a broader remit that just historical understanding. It is possible to sympathise...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. "How did you stop yourself from getting the plague?" This quotation from a child signals some of the challenges of teaching children about chronology in the primary school. Learning about chronology involves: Knowing the conventions of...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Time, although an extremely complex, abstract concept, is one that begins to develop in children's minds as soon as they are born. Although it cannot be seen or touched and leaves no visible trace, very young...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.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...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. As a primary teacher in the United States, I was sometimes caught off guard by students' ideas about time. Some 10-year-olds, I noticed, still could not read a clock or calculate the time between recess and...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. As a teacher, the passing of time in a classroom may be: challenging, stimulating, appear endless, be subject to constant change, though never dull. Years pass, yet at times it can seem but yesterday, when I...

I recently finished a most interesting commission with the educational publishers, Schofield and Sims. They asked me to help put together a comprehensive timeline of British History to cover as broad a chronological perspective as possible. They wanted this to be the complete Cavemen to Cybermen story all on one...

In its latest triennial history survey report, History for all, Ofsted concluded that, ‘history teaching was good or better in most primary schools' and, ‘most pupils reached the  end of Key Stage 2 with detailed knowledge derived from well-taught studies of individual topics'. The report went on to note, though,...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Research during the last ninety years has suggested that ‘time' concepts, such as chronology, duration and the usage of dating systems are difficult for children to assimilate. However, my research suggests that temporal concepts can be...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. The Nearly Complete History Of Almost Everything outlines the chronology of various aspects of our lives, and gives a flavour of the enormity at first glanceof ‘teaching chronology'. Topics, which are not tied to a particular...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. I chose Horrible Histories for this exploration of children's understanding of chronology because I thought it would be fun - and I approve of the Horrible Histories. They use sources, question sources, provide alternative interpretations and...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial note: This short paper introduces a highly creative, imaginative and enthralling case-study of a local history project for year 6 pupils. The teaching programme has a chronological spine that provides coherence and focus. Chronology is...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Citizenship links. While most of us engage with the nature of the sporting aspects of an Olympics throughout its modern day reincarnation, there are many aspects of the Games on and off the sporting field that...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Three curricular editions of Primary History, PH 50, Autumn 2008 , PH 53, Autumn 2009 and PH 57, Spring 2011 are directly relevant to teaching the Olympics. PH 50, Autumn 2008 History Education in the 21st...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. History flows like a river, sometimes quiet and unobtrusive, sometimes a raging torrent with wide-ranging effects on the world around us. It is punctuated by momentous events and significant individuals, who impact on its direction and...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see: Chronology: Developing a coherent knowledge (2014) Scheme of work (KS2): Chronology: Books through time Scheme of work (KS2): Chronology: Numbers through time  Britain and World timeline 4000-2000BC Britain and World timeline 2000BC to 0BC Britain and World timeline, 0BC...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial note: Hilary Cooper outlines the main features of historical thinking. These ideas are embedded in the government's current requirements for teaching National Curriculum History [England] Introduction It is important that children develop a coherent, chronological...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. First let me say that I did not research the materials used or plan this lesson. For this I must acknowledge, with thanks, that this is the work of my colleague, Mike Huggins, and the senior...

Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Classic fiction provides useful sources of information for investigating the lives, beliefs and values of people in the past. In this article Ann Cowling describes activities undertaken with student teachers which may also serve as models...

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...