What is History? Full Enquiry Resources

All the materials needed for a Key Stage 3 (likely Year 7) enquiry around the question: How historical are my assumptions about the Past? or What is History? building up students understanding of the fundamental knowledge and skills of the discipline of History.

The enquiry is broken down into the following sub-questions taking 1-2 lessons each:

1. How do historians measure our distance from the past?
2. Who were the first historians?
3. What makes the discipline of History so special?
4. What is historical empathy and how does it stop me from making mistakes?
5. How do historians classify the types of history that they study?
6. The Raw Materials: What types of sources are available to historians?
7. The Raw Materials: How do historians decide how reliable a historical source is?
8. The Raw Materials: How useful are oral sources in History?
9. The Raw Materials: What happened to the Tollund Man?
10. ASSESSMENT: How do historians engage with the past? Knowledge Cube (including detailed marking/success criteria)

The enquiry is fully resourced including a Knowledge Organiser / Additional Materials Sheet that can be used to point students towards fiction / non-fiction / TV and film / podcasts / websites and YouTube videos to extend and deepen their understanding and a ready made workbook that mirrors the lessons exactly and can be adapted. Moreover, answers are included as well as model examples where appropriate.

I taught the enquiry as it stands to a mixed ability Year 7 class. It is ambitious in scope, skills and knowledge (especially the 8th lesson on oral history and oral tradition) being based in part on John Tosh’s book The Pursuit of History, but with enthusiasm on my part the students coped well with it. The resources were made on Google Slides, but uploaded in PowerPoint. If anything doesn’t change format adequately than contact me and I can share you into the Google version (a.whybro@bist.ge)