Outside the classroom

Learning outside the classroom is not just about making visits. It is quite simply about the world beyond the classroom whether that is places, historic sites, museums and monuments. Opportunities for engaging children on the school field whether it is building shelters re-enacting events or creating a film or walking around the locality understanding how the landscape has affected or has been affected by people and events in the past.

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  • The true end of archaeology?

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Wow! The most magical words you can hear from a child. How do we get this wow factor? In my experience, archaeology is full of wow. It was Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1954 who wrote...

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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    Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum; some content may be outdated and links may be broken.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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  • Using cemeteries as a local history resource

    Article

    Why visit a cemetery as part of the history curriculum? Local studies now feature prominently in the primary history curriculum for both key stages. This development challenges teachers to find easilyaccessible, inexpensive and relevant resources on their doorstep. A rich resource which has traditionally been overlooked is the local churchyard...

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  • Using museum and heritage sites to promote higher-level learning at KS2

    Article

    The Key Stage 2 Primary History Curriculum sets ambitious challenges for pupils: "…They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge...

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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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  • Using the back cover image: Mummified cat

    Article

    For hundreds of years, travellers to Egypt have marvelled at the amazing monuments evident throughout the country. The treasures of Ancient Egypt became more fascinating after  the discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1799, which led to the deciphering of the hieroglyphic language. Many Victorian explorers returned to their European...

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  • Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s

    Article

    Photographs are very useful and productive documents when teaching history. They provide a snapshot of the past such as this one from just outside Selfridges on Oxford Street in London c.1962-64. Combined with further images from Heritage Explorer, clips from Pathé News, extracts from the 1911 Census, locally gathered images...

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  • War memorials as a local history resource

    Article

    War Memorials Trust (WMT) is the charity that works for the protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK. It defines a war memorial as ‘any physical object created, erected or installed to commemorate those involved in or affected by a conflict or war' (WMT 2009, ‘Definition of a...

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  • ‘Not again!’ - an additional viewpoint on using railways

    Article

    ‘Not again!’ I can remember my son muttering as his football thudded against the kitchen wall, ‘I went there in Year 2 and then in Year 4 and now I have to go there again in Year 6.’ He was referring to his school trips to the remains of the gunpowder factories in our village,...

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