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Case Study: Promoting creativity, empathy and historical imagination
Primary History article
Empathy and Imagination
Creativity, imagination and historical empathy are concepts with different meanings although interrelated in the field of historical learning (Lee, 1984; Shemilt, 1984, Ashby & Lee, 1987). According to Lee (1984) concepts such as empathy, understanding and imagination are connected in complex ways in history. Lee discusses the...
Case Study: Promoting creativity, empathy and historical imagination
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Case Study: Creative chronological thinking
Primary History article
Personal biographies
I often ask groups to collect and record their own personal chronologies. They are asked to bring in evidence to tell the stories of their own lives or of the life of a relative, which they will then weave into a ‘photo book' story. The photo books become...
Case Study: Creative chronological thinking
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Thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning
Primary History article
Creative curricular planning With the National Curriculum under review, it seems that more schools are taking a creative approach to planning by delivering the curriculum through a focused theme or topic. This has allowed schools to take more ownership of the curriculum and has helped teachers become more innovative in their...
Thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning
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Geosong: a transition project
Primary History article
How do we engage young people with their Heritage, answer curriculum needs and make that big leap of transition from primary to secondary school that bit easier?
English Heritage's Geosong treasure hunt website went some way to providing answers. What does the website do? Using handheld GPS devices, groups must...
Geosong: a transition project
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Creating the 'creative history' website
Primary History article
Editorial note: The role of ICT in the Digital Age is a major, perhaps even, the major factor, in enhancing creativity in the learning and teaching of history. This paper illuminates another dimension of ICT in the Digital Age and creativity. It shows how a teacher's creativity has produced a...
Creating the 'creative history' website
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OFSTED, primary history and creativity
Primary History article
Co-ordinators concerns: OFSTED, primary history and creativity
I'm told the emphasis in schools now is for a rigorous approach to history where the children are taught the main facts and features of history. I recall a time not so long ago when the whole curriculum was about creativity but surely...
OFSTED, primary history and creativity
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A creative Egyptian project
Primary History article
Ideally when teaching history, teachers will look to deliver projects that will engage and motivate, hopefully making the hard work of being creative stimulating and rewarding, based upon questioning, enquiry, investigation of sources and reaching conclusions grounded in the evidence.Ancient Egypt is one of those history topics which, because it...
A creative Egyptian project
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Case Study: Hit the net!
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Primary History's editorial team set me the challenge of seeing how useful ICT would be in my teaching. The challenge was timely, as I recently inherited a Year Six History class with its unit of work "Life in Britain since the 1930s"....
Case Study: Hit the net!
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Chronology through ICT
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
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...
Chronology through ICT
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The Interactive Whiteboard or Smart Board
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The interactive whiteboard [smartboard] has opened a pathway to explore sources and develop historical interest for children of all ages. It can be used in varied ways that allow a teacher to customise activities to match their intended outcomes. Support for this...
The Interactive Whiteboard or Smart Board
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Primary pedagogy: Lessons from Early Years and Primary ITT Students
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The last decade has witnessed a massive increase in the use of ICT as a teaching and learning tool within the Primary classroom. Schools are indeed perceived as outmoded without the tools of the trade: the Interactive White Boards, ICT suites,...
Primary pedagogy: Lessons from Early Years and Primary ITT Students
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Helping pupils to view historical film critically
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Introduction: The teaching potential of film
Films about historical events seem like the nearest thing we can give our pupils to a time machine. In commercial film, the physical appearance of the past has often been carefully researched, thus a snippet from...
Helping pupils to view historical film critically
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English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
[THINK BUBBLE, has burst, r.i.p... Diogenes, a curmudgeonly Ancient Greek cynic, has taken its place. The original Grumpy Old Man Diogenes typically looks back to a mythical golden age]
Introduction
Unfortunately I'm old enough to remember a time when primary school...
English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
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History, ICT and the digital age
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Three things are important
1.Don't fall for the hype
You are not a bad teacher if you are not using a lot of technology in history or any other area! Research evidence does not support many of the claims made about...
History, ICT and the digital age
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Using museums, libraries and art galleries
Primary History 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...
Using museums, libraries and art galleries
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Creating a school museum
Primary History case study
Using an artefacts loans service Within the UK there is a wealth of museums and heritage sites across the country, offering children, young people and teachers the chance to experience a hands on approach to history and telling the story of our past. However if you are unable to visit...
Creating a school museum
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A museum in the classroom: Learning history from objects
Primary History article
I teach history education at the University of Minho, in Portugal. The writing of English researchers about the role of objects and of class museums in teaching history to young children inspired me to undertake similar research in Portugal, which is outlined in this article.
Several researchers have highlighted the...
A museum in the classroom: Learning history from objects
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Making use of outstanding resources in museums
Primary History article
‘An embarrassment of riches' is not an inappropriate description of the new ancient Egyptian galleries in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The Ashmolean has always been famous for its Egyptian collection, being the product of the work of Oxford academics for over a 100 years, but the problem in the...
Making use of outstanding resources in museums
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Co-ordinators' concerns: Visits and Ofsted
Primary History article
Since Ofsted published its 2012 new guidance for the inspection of schools, it seems that aspects such as visits will not be a high priority. What advice can I give to the senior management team in response to its pressure to avoid these kind of frills?
Ofsted will judge the...
Co-ordinators' concerns: Visits and Ofsted
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A View from the Classroom: Writing History
Article
Introduction
I imagine many people have memories of staring at a blank piece of paper - and wondering what to write.....and where to start?
There are many questions to consider.
How do children become eager and confident writers in the context of history?
When is writing the best response, and...
A View from the Classroom: Writing History
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Constructivist chronology and Horrible Histories
Primary History case study
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...
Constructivist chronology and Horrible Histories
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Time, Chronology, language and story
Primary History article
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...
Time, Chronology, language and story
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Enhancing temporal cognition: Practical activities for the primary classroom
Primary History article
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...
Enhancing temporal cognition: Practical activities for the primary classroom
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Enriching young children's understanding of time
Primary History article
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...
Enriching young children's understanding of time
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Developing pupils' chronological understanding
Article
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,...
Developing pupils' chronological understanding
