History Skills Blog


What are historical thinking skills?

Garden statue of a peasant girl thinking
Garden statue of a peasant girl thinking. © History Skills
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The dangerous problem with talking about a 'balance sheet of history’

Balance sheet of history
© History Skills
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Beyond essays and exams: Other assessment ideas for the History classroom

Ideas for history assessment tasks
© History Skills
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Primary or secondary sources: which are more reliable?

A history professor thinking while looking out of a library window
© History Skills
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Why History teachers should (and should not) be worried about the rise of AI programs

AI face
Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/technology-circuit-board-face-think-5254039/
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The dangers of ignoring the humanities: What happens when students don't choose them in high school

Students listening to a teacher
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/teaching-learning-classroom-661748/
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How have other cultures measured time?

Calendar
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/calendar-date-time-month-week-660670/

AD/BC and CE/BCE are not the only ways to count years

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7 tips to improve your academic writing

Woman typing on a laptop
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/student-notebook-female-study-type-865073/
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The difference between opinion and perspective

African American woman leaning against a car
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/african-american-man-woman-black-1386235/

What is the difference between 'opinion' and 'perspective' in historical sources?

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The difference between explicit and implicit information in sources

Boy writing with quill and paper
Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/middle-ages-poet-writing-ancient-4938310/
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The difference between ‘history’ and ‘the past’

Caesar arguing in the senate
© History Skills
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What is the difference between usefulness and reliability?

Man reading an ancient manuscript using a magnifying glass
© History Skills
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How to answer a “to what degree/extent” essay question

Woman thinking with pen
Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/young-woman-girl-lady-female-work-791849/
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The problem of ‘perspective’ in the History classroom: we cannot seem to agree on what it means

A frustrated and confused student
Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/hectic-woman-face-arrows-stress-1738072/

Both students and teachers are confused about ‘perspective’

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After one week of remote teaching, these are the things I’ve learned

Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/online-course-training-teacher-4727942/
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/online-course-training-teacher-4727942/
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I taught students to read hieroglyphs and they loved it

Egyptian hieroglyphs
Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/hieroglyphics-characters-golden-484697/

Teaching codebreaking, problem solving, and teamwork

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Why don’t you start history research with a hypothesis?

Man reading a book in a field
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/bench-grass-man-person-reading-1853961/

A solution to student frustrations with history research tasks

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Most History teachers struggle to teach centuries correctly

Pocket watch in sand
Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/pocket-watch-time-of-sand-time-3156771/

Most History teachers struggle to teach centuries correctly and we must work together to fix it

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IOP CAM - A Handy Acronym for Source Analysis

IOP CAM source analysis
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It has never been easier, nor more important, to study history than right now

Statue of Theodore Mommsen
Sculpture of Theodore Mommsen. Used under CC0. Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/sculpture-theodor-mommsen-historian-2036188/
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Historically Inaccurate Things that Made Me Love History as a Child

Braveheat, Asterix, and the Mysterious Cities of Gold
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What's the Difference Between Perspective and Bias?

Medieval knight at a joust
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/knight-middle-ages-tournament-1506878/
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No Pens, No Paper, No Problems: The Fully Digitised Classroom

Study desk and computer graphic
Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/office-work-place-business-3383853/
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A Guide to Teaching Essay Structure

Red pen marking student essay
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/correcting-proof-paper-correction-1870721/

Prevent students from 'telling a story' in their essays by helping them understand how arguments work

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The Best Advice I Received as a New Teacher

Happy students in a class
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/classroom-students-school-class-15593/
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Awesome Free Windows Apps for Every Educator

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/employee-learning-development-3005501/
Source: https://pixabay.com/en/employee-learning-development-3005501/

Over this time, I have collected a list of awesome apps which I use on a regular, almost daily, basis. Each of them has helped to streamline my teaching and has opened up new ways to engage students with my lessons.

 

If you’re looking at digitising your own classroom, I hope that these help you as well.

 

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What’s the Difference Between Source Analysis and Evaluation?

Cowboys riding in the Old West
© History Skills

When using historical sources in class, both teachers and students know that they need to ‘analyse and evaluate’ them.

 

But what do these two words mean? What is the difference between ‘analysis’ and ‘evaluation’?

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A Teacher's Experience with the Surface Go

Microsoft Surface Go
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A Day in the Life of a History Teacher

History teacher at a museum

As a History teacher, I believe I have one of the best jobs in the world. Every day I get to share my passion for the past with hundreds of students and I never grow tired of seeing people become fascinated with all of the crazy and impressive things that humans have done over thousands of years.

 

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Two Days with Microsoft Education

Sydney Harbour lights
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Why Bother Studying History?

Vercingetorix lays down his arms at Caesar's feet
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Siege-alesia-vercingetorix-jules-cesar.jpg
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A Global Museum

History Skills Flipboard magazines
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Constructive (Source) Criticism

Edwin Smith Papyrus
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/papyrus-hieroglyphs-ancient-egyptian-63004/

Do you feel like you should be doing more source criticism in your History lessons but not sure how? It can be surprisingly simple to do!

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Letting Students ‘Choose Their Own Lesson’

Teacher in front of class
Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/teacher-learning-school-teaching-4784917/

What if you gave students the choice of how to learn? What if you gave them options for how to complete a lesson?

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Microsoft Surface Vs Apple iPad in High School Classrooms

Microsoft Surface and Apple iPad
Source: http://wccftech.com/ipad-pro-vs-surface-pro-3/
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