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The Aztec Empire: a surprise ending?
Historian article
Matthew Restall explores current ideas about the end of the Aztec Empire.
For an empire that existed half a millennium ago in a hemisphere far away, we have a remarkably clear sense of what brought the Aztecs down. Or at least, we think we do. Our general assumption is that the very nature of...
The Aztec Empire: a surprise ending?
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Polychronicon 166: The ‘new’ historiography of the Cold War
Teaching History feature
A great deal of new writing on the Cold War sits at the crossroads of national, transnational and global perspectives. Such studies can be so self-consciously multi-archival and multipolar, methodologically pluralist in approach and often ‘decentring’ in aim, that some scholars now worry that the Cold War risks losing its coherence as a distinct object of...
Polychronicon 166: The ‘new’ historiography of the Cold War
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M&S brings over 130 years of archives into your classroom
Article
There is something really magical about making your own discoveries. Investigating something sparked by your own curiosity and using your own skills of observation and deduction to find out more is exciting. Human beings have always wanted to find out about our history and our place in the world –...
M&S brings over 130 years of archives into your classroom
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Move Me On 167: Frames of reference
Teaching History feature
This feature is designed to build critical, informed debate about the character of teacher training, teacher education and professional development.
This issue’s problem: Eleanor Franks doesn’t really understand her students’ frames of reference and the difficulties that many of them have in making sense of the particular historical phenomena she is teaching them about.
Eleanor Franks,...
Move Me On 167: Frames of reference
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From road map to thought map: helping students theorise the nature of change
Teaching History article
Warren Valentine was dissatisfied with his Year 7 students’ accounts of change across the Tudor period. Fixated with Henry VIII’s wives, they failed to reflect on or analyse the bigger picture of the whole Tudor narrative.
In order to overcome this problem, his department created a ‘thought-map’ exercise in which...
From road map to thought map: helping students theorise the nature of change
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Move Me On 169: Planning a local history enquiry
The problem page for history mentors
This feature of Teaching History is designed to build critical, informed debate about the character of teacher training, teacher education and professional development. It is also designed to offer practical help to all involved in training new history teachers. Each issue presents a situation in initial teacher education/training with an...
Move Me On 169: Planning a local history enquiry
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Triumphs Show 167: Keeping the 1960s complicated
Teaching History feature: celebrating and sharing success
During her PGCE year, it became evident to Rachel Coleman just how much pupils struggled with the complicated nature of history. They were troubled in particular by the lack of definitive answers, by the range of perspectives that might be held at the time of a particular event or development...
Triumphs Show 167: Keeping the 1960s complicated
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‘It’s a great big ship!’: Teaching the Titanic at Key Stage 1
Article
Edith Haisman, a 15-year-old passenger on the Titanic, exclaimed, ‘It’s a great big ship!’ when she first caught sight of it. Similar excitement could be generated among your pupils by incorporating a study of the Titanic into your curriculum. If you are tired of teaching about the Great Fire of...
‘It’s a great big ship!’: Teaching the Titanic at Key Stage 1
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Is There a Place for The Holocaust in the Primary Curriculum?
Article
The Holocaust – the murder of approximately six million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War – is possibly the most difficult event that any history teacher will ever have to teach. Most obviously, it can be deeply upsetting, for educators...
Is There a Place for The Holocaust in the Primary Curriculum?
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Early Years: Learning about the Past through 'People Who Help Us'
Article
'People who help us’ is a popular learning theme in the Foundation Stage. It helps children develop their knowledge of the world around them and understand how they are part of a local and wider community. Aspects of this theme can also provide opportunities for children to develop their understanding...
Early Years: Learning about the Past through 'People Who Help Us'
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From temple to forum: teaching final-year history students to become critical museum visitors
Journal article
Across the globe, the centenary of World War I has prompted the creation of new exhibitions devoted to its commemoration. In New Zealand, Michael Harcourt wanted to explore whether teaching strategies intended to help students to engage critically with such exhibitions would have any lasting impact on the young people’s...
From temple to forum: teaching final-year history students to become critical museum visitors
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Of the many significant things that have ever happened, what should we teach?
Teaching History article
There are three basic strands to our lessons. How should we teach? What skills should we enable our students to build? What content should we use to deliver those skills?
In this article Tony McConnell, who has been re-designing the curriculum in his school in response to a changed examination regimen, considers the issue of subject...
Of the many significant things that have ever happened, what should we teach?
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Making the children work for the information!
Primary History article
Your local museum is often a rich but sometimes overlooked resource. Images, documents and maps show a broad range of history but one that also relates to the children’s own local area. This allows children to see the connection with their own past, providing them with examples that they can...
Making the children work for the information!
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Learning about the past through a study of houses and homes
Primary History article
A thematic study based on houses and homes is an excellent way to link learning about the past with something all children will be able to relate to – where they live. Planned carefully, it can provide a range of learning opportunities for both inside and outside the classroom.
Let’s look outside
Learning about houses...
Learning about the past through a study of houses and homes
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Teaching History 169: A Time and a Place
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial (Read article)
03 HA Secondary News
04 HA Update – Teaching local history at Key Stage 3
08 From temple to forum: teaching final-year history students to become critical museum visitors – Michael Harcourt (Read article)
16 Triumphs Show: Using 360° VR technology with the GCSE Historic Environment study...
Teaching History 169: A Time and a Place
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Inverting the telescope: investigating sources from a different perspective
Teaching History article
As historians, we are dependent on evidence, which comes in many varieties. Rosalind Stirzaker here introduces a project which she ran two years ago to encourage her students to think about artefacts in a different way. They have examined randomly preserved artefacts such as those of Pompeii, and sets of...
Inverting the telescope: investigating sources from a different perspective
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One of my favourite history places: Fulham Palace
Primary History feature
In the south-west corner of London, nestled up against the Thames, lies Fulham Palace. This is a palace that was not for kings and queens but bishops, the princes of the church. This was the summer palace for the bishops of London which they retreated to when the heat and stench of the...
One of my favourite history places: Fulham Palace
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Pull-out Posters: Primary History 76
Posters: Communication and Sutton Hoo helmet
1. Communication Across the Ages; 2. The British Museum's Sutton Hoo Helmet
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 76
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The International Journal Volume 14, Number 2
IJHLTR
Editorial and Editorial Review pp. 5–28 Editorial pp. 5–6 Editorial Review pp. 7–28 Jon Nichol, The Historical Association of Great Britain, United Kingdom – England Hilary Cooper, University of Cumbria, United Kingdom – England
Austria pp. 29–39 Are Historical Thinking Skills Important To History Teachers? Some Findings From A Qualitative...
The International Journal Volume 14, Number 2
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Ideas for Assemblies: Women in parliament
Article
A fundamental part of British values is our democracy. The system theoretically gives people equal rights because everyone is entitled to one vote that has the same value when placed in the ballot box. The progress made with regards to equal suffrage is an important aspect of teaching about democracy...
Ideas for Assemblies: Women in parliament
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Having fun through time
Article
This article is about planning and teaching about ‘having fun across time’ for use in the later years of Key Stage 2 – investigating questions such as ‘Were people having fun in the same ways in the Middle Ages as in the Roman or Victorian periods?’ ‘What did our parents...
Having fun through time
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Home Front Legacy 1914-18
Article
Home Front Legacy 1914-18 is your opportunity to research, discover and record the remains of the First World War Home Front in the United Kingdom. This partnership project, co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology with support and funding from Historic England, is open to everyone. You don’t need any...
Home Front Legacy 1914-18
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Primary History 77
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
04 Editorial (Read article)
05 HA Primary News
08 Learning about the Past in the Early Years through the Theme of ‘People Who Help Us’ – Helen Crawford (Read article)
10 Is There a Place for The Holocaust in the Primary Curriculum? – Martin Winstone (Read article)
18 ‘It’s A Great...
Primary History 77
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The Philosophy of History
Classic Pamphlet
Philosophy is thinking about the world as a whole. To study the nature of selected parts of the world is to be a scientist; to study its nature as a whole is to be a philosopher. Thus, it is the business of one kind of scientist – the mathematical physicist...
The Philosophy of History
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Using sites for insights
Teaching History article
Working alongside local history teachers to prepare for the new GCSE specifications Steve Illingworth and Emma Manners were struck that many teachers were concerned about two issues in particular: the breadth and depth of knowledge demanded and new forms of assessment, especially the historic environment paper. In this article they...
Using sites for insights
