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, websites and Virtual Learning Environments. Within this climate the...

Developments in information technology continue at an extraordinary pace. Many young children will have little or no idea of what it was like to live in a world without mobile phones, computers and the Internet. Most children will regularly make use of devices such as smart phones, digital cameras and...

The ICT revolution A paper register, a pink-lined A4 mark book and a written school log book are surely historical artefacts? The transition from paper to digital technology continues, changing the world of the classroom teacher whose working life like mine, began in the print age when digital-based education was...

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...

In this series of podcasts Dr Penelope Harnett, UWE and Sarah Whitehouse Senior Primary Lecturer at University of the West of England examine good history at Key Stage 1. 1. Chronology  2. What should history at Key Stage 1 do? Local History3. Family Histories4. The Importance of Play5. Stories 6. Using sources: artefacts,...

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:

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...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. "The focus for much of the planning and the teaching is on pockets of knowledge at basic levels. Thus, the notion that pupils can progress and do better over time in history is not well established...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Early years history should provide opportunities to expand the children's knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past and develop children's investigative and interpretive skills. Children should focus on: Questioning Observation Generating thoughts...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. The Spring 2008 issue of this magazine, Visual Literacy, highlighted the excellent practice in using visual historical sources that exists in many primary schoolsWe should strive to preserve and extend this critical use of visuals, whatever...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Simon Schama's plea to "reinvent the art and science of storytelling in the classroom" made the media headlines and echoed centuries of educational history (Bage 1999). "It is, after all, the glory of our historical tradition...

The end of one school year and the beginning of a new one is always a time for reflection. If it coincides with moving classrooms and changing key stage too, as I am from KS1 to KS2, there is a good opportunity to sort out resources, and plan a fresh...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Six-year-old Rebecca asked me this question when I visited her classroom to share a book which I had written with her and her classmates. It seemed to me at the time that Rebecca was identifying a...

Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Introducing the youngest children to the concept of history can be a challenging prospect for some foundation stage practitioners, particularly if they feel their experience of the subject has been limited or their own memories of...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. A research project was carried out with Maltese primary school children at San Andrea Infant and Middle school to see if learning strategies could accelerate pupils' cognitive development. The research involved a range of historical sources:...

IntroductionI was talking about ‘Doing History' with historical artefacts and objects with a young teacher when she closed the discussion with the statement ‘It's alright for you, you're old, your house is full of old things - how do I get them?' Alas - I had to agree with her,...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. In the autumn of 2009 I saw some of the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard on display at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and stood in awe at the skills of the craftsmen. Reminded so vividly of the...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. This article will argue that although history can seem a ‘hard' discipline for young children, it can be made accessible and exciting through telling stories about objects. The article does not contain advice about obtaining objects:...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. Editorial note: This article reveals the power of the Internet in helping us all, adults and children, to bring portraits like Drake's to life. So, as you read, follow the links.

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. The class had composed its Anglo-Saxon funeral poem for Raedwald, an Anglo-Saxon king, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A6dwald_of_East_Anglia, the high king or Bretwalda of all seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the early seventh century as well as being King...