ThinkingHistory
Celebrating the creativity, variety, challenge and craft of history teaching
This site contains a wide range of articles on curriculum planning, chronological understanding, the nature of enquiry and numerous other topics, as well as over 200 detailed teaching resources – structured role-plays, decision-making activities, living graphs and other techniques which incorporate physical and visual activity into learning. Experience shows these techniques demand far more of students in concentration and depth of thinking and lead to deeper knowledge and understanding than lessons ‘delivered’ to circumscribed templates.
The common threads linking these resources and articles are curiosity about learning, creativity in seeking solutions and a belief in the importance of making the complex accessible and being constantly responsive to individual students’ needs. History teaching is in essence a problem-solving activity – the central problem being how to help students learn effectively – and I hope this site helps teachers solve some of those problems.
Ian Dawson: author and editor of this website
Please update: all bookmarks to the secure version of this website, https://thinkinghistory.co.uk/
GDPR: We track basic site useage but don't use cookies on this site or collect commercial data
Latest on the Site
Please refresh the MENU page in your browser (Oct. 2024)
Using reconstruction drawings to introduce the Industrial Revolution HERE …
Drawings of the same place in 1750,1830 and 1890 to set students thinking and asking questions about the Industrial Revolution.
The Importance of Keeping Enquiry Questions Flexible HERE …
The importance of a flexible approach to asking enquiry questions.
A Letter to My History Teacher HERE …
Adapted from a recent letter to J who taught me for four important years
Redmayn Latest Chapters
Chapter 12: Why might Elizabeth Redmayn have been proud of Harewood castle? HERE …
Exploring Harewood castle – the rooms, their contents, the views.
Chapter 13: (recently revised) What did Elizabeth Redmayn do all day? HERE …
Why was Elizabeth’s daily life probably very busy?
The Sections of the Website: See an introduction to the different sections of this website HERE …
The worst thing about being a deputy head was that I had to pretend
other subjects mattered as much as history. They don’t. (Ian Luff)