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Issues relating to the youngest children
Article
History plays an important role in the development of young children’s understanding of their world. It can broaden children’s experiences beyond the immediate present, to a time in the past, which might be only a few years ago or which might extend much further back in time. ‘Tell me about...
Issues relating to the youngest children
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Dealing with the dead: Identity and community - Monuments, memorials and local history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Death is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues that teachers encounter, linked inextricably as it is to identity. I think it sometimes escapes our attention that, as teachers of history, we constantly deal...
Dealing with the dead: Identity and community - Monuments, memorials and local history
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Teaching history through nursery rhymes in the foundation stage
Article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum and some content is now outdated.
All teachers working within the foundation stage will, at some time, be using nursery rhymes in their classrooms. Their importance to early language development has long been acknowledged, particularly the way in which they contribute to...
Teaching history through nursery rhymes in the foundation stage
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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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English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
Primary History article
Diogenes - Waving not drowning: English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
[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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Creating a curriculum to help children in the early years understand the world in which the live: history and children in the early years
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In a recent article in Primary History Denis Hayes suggests that despite many lively ways of learning about the past, ‘history concepts will always be beyond both the experiential and conceptual reach of the youngest pupils’. Consequently...
Creating a curriculum to help children in the early years understand the world in which the live: history and children in the early years
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How to teach chronology
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see:
Chronology: Developing a coherent knowledge (2014)
Scheme of work (KS2): Chronology: Books through time
Scheme of work (KS2): Chronology: Numbers through time
Britain and World timeline 4000-2000BC
Britain and World timeline 2000BC to 0BC
Britain and World timeline, 0BC...
How to teach chronology
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Written sources and local history at Key Stage 1
Article
Working on written sources is fundamental to historical learning. A document, inscription or sign brings children directly into contact with the past in much the same way as an artefact. It is real and conveys information directly in the words of past peoples. Whether an ancient family Bible with its...
Written sources and local history at Key Stage 1
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Children's thinking in archaeology
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Young children enjoy prehistory Tactile, Physical and Enactive engagement with archaeological remains stimulates, excites and promotes children's logical, imaginative, creative and deductive thinking. Through archaeology there are infinite opportunities for ‘reasonable guesses' about sources and...
Children's thinking in archaeology
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Planning for local history
Article
Editorial comment: Barbara writes from the viewpoint of a classroom teacher facing the challenge of ‘Doing local history' for the first time.
Planning for local history
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Ideas for Assemblies: Linking historical events with geography
Primary History article
In this edition we highlight some interesting anniversaries that might provide a link with geography, either through maps, ideas about climate change or conservation and protection of wild animals. We hope these anniversaries might inspire some stimulating historical investigations, as well as provoke lots of discussion and debate. Some of...
Ideas for Assemblies: Linking historical events with geography
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Teaching famous people at key stage one
Primary History article
The draft English NC for history highlights the study of ‘significant individuals and people'. Michelle Dexter provides an insight on how to approach this biographical requirement; it also opens up biography as a major genre for pupils to master - augmenting their development of literacy...
Teaching famous people at key stage one
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Archives in Primary History
Primary Expert Podcasts
In this series of podcast Sue Temple, Senior Lecturer in Primary History at the University of Cumbria looks at the value of using archives in the primary history classroom:
Archives in Primary History
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An Olympic Great? Dorando Pietri
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Italian confectioner Dorando Pietri is one of the most famous figures from the 1908 Olympics - famous for not winning. His story raises issues of sportsmanship suitable for class discussion. There are detailed accounts readily...
An Olympic Great? Dorando Pietri
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'Doing Local History' through maps and drama
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial note: John Fines produced two case studies of Local History for the Nuffield Primary History Project. One on them is published here for the first time.
'Doing Local History' through maps and drama
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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.
Using Spaces Near You
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Local history fieldwork
Article
Successful Local History fieldwork How can you and your children get the most out of a site visit? Read this brief account of an example of Local History fieldwork with children: it was based on the NPHP Top Ten Pointers...
Local history fieldwork
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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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Helping pupils to view historical film critically
Primary History article
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 Gladiator, for example, can give pupils some idea of...
Helping pupils to view historical film critically
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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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How can we teach about medieval Britain in primary schools?
Primary History article
There is no question that the medieval period (no matter what timespan it claims) offers plenty of fascination for the primary pupil. It also allows some continuity with the period up to 1066 which forms the bedrock of the Key Stage 2 history curriculum. With opportunities to cover the medieval...
How can we teach about medieval Britain in primary schools?
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Children's Thinking: Developmental psychology and history education
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial note: Hilary Cooper outlines the main features of historical thinking. These ideas are embedded in the government's current requirements for teaching National Curriculum History [England]
Introduction
It is important that children develop a coherent, chronological...
Children's Thinking: Developmental psychology and history education
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How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader
Primary History article
As a subject leader you often have a lot on your plate and not always the time provided to do so. I have always been fortunate in that I have had support but I appreciate that in certain schools it can be difficult to fit everything in. Hopefully with this...
How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader
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‘Not again!’ - an additional viewpoint on using railways
Primary History 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,...
‘Not again!’ - an additional viewpoint on using railways
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How technology has changed our lives
Primary History article
This article links teaching about Sir Tim Berners-Lee to Changes in Living Memory and Significant Individuals and makes comparisons between Caxton and the impact of earlier developments in communications technology.
It provides interesting topics for discussion about significance (pupils may be surprised by the idea that they are living through an exciting period of history at the moment). It even has the...
How technology has changed our lives
