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Exploring empire, artefacts and local history
Primary History article
This article introduces us to the Colonial Countryside Project. Many of the sites we visit, especially the great country houses and stately homes, have long been visited by children. They are often fascinated by both the buildings and the history associated with them. However, there is a growing recognition that...
Exploring empire, artefacts and local history
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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Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content, references and links are outdated.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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The Stone Age conundrum
Making use of a local site to develop historical knowledge
History – the very word makes the primary teacher in me feel excited. There are simply so many variables, so many dark nooks and crannies of history to explore and so many different angles through which to draw in a class of eager young minds. Thanks to a wellexecuted history...
The Stone Age conundrum
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Podcast Series: Charles Darwin
Multipage Article
In this set of podcasts Project Director Professor Jim Secord and Associate Director Dr Alison Pearn of the Darwin Correspondence Project discuss the life, work and legacy of Charles Darwin.
Podcast Series: Charles Darwin
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Bringing the Civil War to life in Somerset
Primary History article
As a lecturer in education teaching humanities at Plymouth University, I spend my time encouraging student teachers to move away from writing lesson plans with a focus on research and recording, to creating lessons that are dynamic – engaging children in historical activities to develop a passion for history. Student...
Bringing the Civil War to life in Somerset
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HA Enquiry Toolkit
How to build an effective historical enquiry at key stages 1 and 2
An enquiry approach is becoming more popular for teaching many primary curriculum subjects. However, enquiry has always been the backbone of good history teaching. Knowing what constitutes a good historical enquiry and how to build one that will enable your pupils to get better at history is not as easy...
HA Enquiry Toolkit
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Who was King Alfred? And was he really ‘Great’?
Primary History article
Gaining the depth and richness of subject knowledge needed to teach different aspects of history effectively can prove challenging for busy primary school teachers. In this article Francis Leneghan presents key subject knowledge and suggested enquiry questions to inform and structure a depth study of King Alfred. The article focuses...
Who was King Alfred? And was he really ‘Great’?
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Assessment exemplar: children questioning artefacts
Exemplar
Questioning can be used in assessing childrens historical skills, as this example shows.The children were all in Year 4, and were withdrawn from their mixed Year 3/4 class for this lesson. They had covered several aspects of National Curriculum history, including over the past year the Egyptians and a local...
Assessment exemplar: children questioning artefacts
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Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
Primary History Article
Anglo-Saxons have been a part of the primary national curriculum from the onset so they may not be as unfamiliar to teachers as some themes. Many teachers also report that pupils enjoy studying them so there is clearly much in their favour.
That does not mean, however, that all is...
Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
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Using diaries to stimulate children's understanding of the past
Primary History article
Children develop their understanding of the past through a range of historical sources of evidence. Written sources may provide different types of information for children to work from. Records such as census returns or street directories provide information about families and tradespeople living in a particular communities and old maps...
Using diaries to stimulate children's understanding of the past
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Trees
Primary History article
This article includes a compilation of a series of articles about significant trees around Britain. It is hoped that this will prompt readers to explore their own environments, helping children to engage with and enjoy nature. Some of the trees in the article are designated as Great Trees. These were significant...
Trees
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Our Iron Age challenge
Developing historical understanding through building an iron age house
The University of Chichester’s three-year BA (Hons) Degree for Primary Education and Teaching involves learning how to provide rigorous and creative educational opportunities for children. The course involves one creativity module each year. The final one involves the development of skills and confidence in creating problem-solving.
Four of us were...
Our Iron Age challenge
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Siege coins of the English Civil War
Primary History article
Looking at the bigger picture and focusing on the local impact can excite primary school children and help them make a connection to a significant event. Combining it with a cross-curricular approach can be a great challenge. One such period is that of the English Civil War which started in...
Siege coins of the English Civil War
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Constructivist chronology and Horrible Histories
Primary History feature
Hilary Cooper illuminates how Horrible Histories can be effectively used to develop an understanding of chronology. She researched two topics: children and law and order. You can download her full paper: it is included in Primary History 59 on Teaching Chronology.
Constructivist chronology and Horrible Histories
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Processes, Chronological Understanding & Planning
Primary Expert Podcasts
In this podcast Dr Hilary Cooper, Professor of History and Pedagogy at the University of Cumbria, looks at why teachers and students seem to enjoy primary history and discusses processes of enquiry, chronological understanding and planning a topic. 1. Ofsted Report History for All published in 2011 said that: "history taught in schools...
Processes, Chronological Understanding & Planning
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Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
Primary History article
The most recent HA survey suggests that crime and punishment is a popular theme as a Key Stage 2 development study covering the period after 1066.
It is easy to see why. Crime, criminals and punishment have a fascination for many and herein lies its appeal as well as a...
Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
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How the Tudors came to power
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The lessons described introduced a unit on the Tudors through the Battle of Bosworth.
In literacy, we had been learning how to identify key words and use these when writing notes. We had focused on information books, in particular a book...
How the Tudors came to power
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Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London (KS1) - more lessons
Lesson Plans
Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum.
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
These...
Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London (KS1) - more lessons
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Sutton Hoo: describing artefacts found
Lesson Plan
Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.
Questions addressed in this lesson were:
What would you expect archaeologists to find at Sutton Hoo?
Why is it important to...
Sutton Hoo: describing artefacts found
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Ideas for Assemblies: Lest we forget
Primary History feature
Over the next three editions of Primary History our assemblies pages will be linked to the theme of commemorating the First World War. We have found that while many teachers wish to remember these events in school, they are unsure how to approach the subject with primary aged children. It...
Ideas for Assemblies: Lest we forget
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A history of the world - 100 objects that tell a story
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial comment: A History of the World is the most creative, imaginative and dynamic development in primary History Education for thirty years. It ties in perfectly with and supports the government's re-vitalisation of primary education that...
A history of the world - 100 objects that tell a story
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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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The Spanish Armada
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This is a highly interactive and stimulating simulation for years 3 and 4, and a very effective way of involving children in a range of issues.
We introduced the story of the Armada, outlining the main parties involved and the nature...
The Spanish Armada
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'Be bloody, bold and resolute': Two possible interpretations of 'local history'
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
As a pre-Plowden primary teacher who queued to get my copy of that report in 1967 and as a contributory author to the Cambridge Primary Review (Alexander, 2009) forty-two years later I can claim, not an...
'Be bloody, bold and resolute': Two possible interpretations of 'local history'
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Resources for courses: ideas for your history curriculum
Primary History article
In times of tight budgets and with the new financial year on the horizon in April, now might be a good time to look at different ways to resource your history curriculum effectively. Alongside all the resources for teachers available from Primary History and the HA website, the following list...
Resources for courses: ideas for your history curriculum
