I was talking to a scientist this week who told me a great story about Isidor Rabi who is a Nobel Prize winner for his work on nuclear magnetic resonance. Apparently, when Rabi was working on a device that created microwaves specifically for use with radar, someone in the group asked the pertinent question: How does it work? After much scratching of heads one member … Continue reading ‘Imagine it as a pizza…’ and other dodgy analogies!
Update Oct 22 with a Open Spotify playlist of history teacher subject knowledge podcasts created by a University of York PGCE trainee. This term’s Teaching History is on the topic of ‘Historians’. It’s full of ideas about ways to ensure that your students encounter historians in your History classroom. If you haven’t read your copy, and term is feeling crazy already, there’s the Bank Holiday … Continue reading Subject knowledge as you commute!
The Norman Conquest marked the start of a new long evolutionary process. Those living in The Middle Ages were sophisticated people. It was a time of building. Building not just in the sense of undertaking the construction of magnificent cathedrals and impregnable castles made from stone, but building ways of organising life, faith, government and society. If it’s time to refresh your teaching and build … Continue reading Fixed ideas about teaching the Feudal System? Time to change!
You might have seen @TomRogers writing in the TES this week about getting outside the classroom and doing history specific schools visits. Here at #OBHD we know from many years of experience the power of school trips. Tom is right when he says: “Educational visits in history have a special curriculum value and they don’t have to be super costly or tough to organise.” As … Continue reading Learning history outside the classroom
Over the weekend @LeeDonaghy asked history teachers on @Twitter if ‘an enquiry-focused history curriculum is a bit overrated for KS3’. It’s a good question. History-subject specialists learn from their subject-specialist ITT training that being able to construct an effective enquiry is a breakthrough moment in becoming a history teacher. But why? And how can we explain why? In response to @LeeDonaghy there followed a lengthy … Continue reading Enquiry questions – the back story!
Here’s a good idea for helping your students by adapting a great idea for change and continuity to really engage with the course of a key character’s life. Teaching the Normans at GCSE has given me more time to spend on the rather interesting character of Edward the Confessor. I wanted students to know something of his life story but I didn’t want to get … Continue reading Signposting change in Edward the Confessor’s Life
Recently we’ve been trying to shake up how we use sources in our History lessons. We decided that our Key Stage 3 students might be getting the impression that sources are just something History teachers use to get them curious about an enquiry question. There’s nothing at all wrong with using a fascinating picture, artefact or intriguing text to get students’ engaged. However, historians don’t … Continue reading Knowledge to use sources as evidence
OBHD 