Chronology

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.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

My perception of time may be subject to personal recall, idiosyncrasies and inconsistency. So how can we help pupils to gain an understanding of the concept of chronology?

Also what exactly is the essence of this understanding, and how can we measure it, or see evidence of the pupils' grasp of the concepts? Surely an understanding of chronology needs to be more than a recall or recitation of dates? I followed up some of these issues.

Pupil understanding

Pupils at lower Key Stage 2 were independently sequencing a range of historical events in order. When I asked them...