Describe with evidence some of the main events, people and changes covered in the study period.
Explore some reasons for the main events and changes, and why people in the past acted in the ways they did.
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Answers
Answer:
What is historical significance?
Historical significance is the process used to evaluate what was significant about selected events, people, and developments in the past. Historians use different sets of criteria to help them make judgements about significance.
Significance has been called the forgotten concept in history, no doubt because it can be challenging for both teacher and students.
“Teachers often tell students what is important instead of asking them to consider what is significant. The key to understanding significance is to understand the distinction between teaching significant history, and asking students to make judgements about significance.”
Matthew Bradshaw (Teaching History 2004)
Planning to teach significance
When teaching historical significance teachers need to;
Understand that the significance of some past events may be contested in their school situation.Appreciate that what can make chosen events and individuals most significant is the impact they have on the way we live today.Understand that significance is attributed to events and individuals at the time and subsequently.Primary examples
Deciding who to choose and which individuals are more useful for the children to learn about, are issues facing all teachers in the primary school. Teachers and children’s views about historical significance are often shaped by contemporary contexts and can dependent upon their own values and interests.
Significant public commemoration and the commemoration of individuals in the locality are sensitive and need careful handling in classrooms where there are children from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
Teaching Historical Significance KS1
By the end of KS1 children should have experience of a broad understanding of chronology and be able to select significant events and people that have formed the world in which they live. They should also be beginning to realise the difference between importance and significance.
Examples of enquires about significance of commemoration KS1
Developing an enquiry around a key event such as World War 1 provides children with the opportunity to explore an event that has been commemorated annually for almost 100 years. Children can investigate the origins of what it is that is being commemorated, and how its significance has grown to include conflicts up to the present day.
Enquiries about conflict or war may raise sensitive issues for children whose families are still suffering the effects of conflict or still involved in fighting a war. These children have direct, personal experiences, of recent hostilities and their schools will need to exercise sensitivity in teaching this topicChildren could also focus on the symbols of remembrance and their significance, and why it has been chosen as a symbol of remembrance. They can explore issues around the wearing of symbols of remembrance and how they can be seen as expressions of identity.. The children’s awareness of different viewpoints can be extended through discussions concerning why we should remember, what sorts of things we remember, other special events or people we remember and why is it important to remember? Could we remember past conflicts in a different way?Focusing an enquiry on significant women in the past such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole or Amelia Earhart will help develop the children’s understanding of the roles of women in the past. Stereotypical views of women explorers can be challenged by examining images of the life of Mary Kingsley, a female explorer.What importance can the study of topics about the commemoration of events which happened in Ireland 100 years ago have for today’s children? Does it matter if they know what the actual events are and when and how they happened? These events have all had an effect on the world in which the children live today, in terms of how the state in which they live was set up, how they are ruled, where the government is situated and the type of society they will live and work in. Building enquiries around the commemoration of these events are therefore important in helping to develop the children’s realisation the connections between past and present.Primary IdeasUsing wheels of significance to determine the significance of historical figures. Where are they placed on the wall for example at the top or bottom and why?Use priority pyramids and dot voting to explain their judgments of historically significant people and events (See Active Learning and Teaching Methods CCEA 2007 )Text book searches to introduce the children to the concept of significance by asking them to look at which events and people get the biggest headlines or the most pages and discuss why they think this is so. Consideration of who does not get the coverage in books, films or documentaries