What is History?

The very simple answer is that History is the study of events, people or artefacts from the past. But it’s much more than that...

People

Events

Artefacts

But it’s in the past: who cares? To make important decisions, it is essential to understand what happened in the past. By keeping a record of past events, achievements, and items we can keep improving on them and avoid making the same mistakes. For example: Governments look at past laws, and reacti0ns to those laws, before making new ones. Medicine is better than ever because it builds upon past discoveries – Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie etc.

Very interesting, but how will that get me a job? Museum Researcher Curator Museum Education Officer Charity Sector – National Trust, English Heritage etc (Tour Guide) Archivist (Record Keeper) Archaeologist Genealogist Media Researcher - Presenter Writer – Factual or Historical Fiction Teacher/Lecturer

Treat History as a context for learning. When we write a story in school, we learn skills. We don’t learn to write the story of the Time Travelling Cat and the Egyptian Goddess – Year 5 and 6 – we learn how to: Plan, predict, write descriptively, punctuate accurately, write paragraphs and use conjunctions etc.

Context for learning When you study History you learn to: Locate information independently (Independent Worker) Decide which information is relevant (Reasoning) Decide if information is biased (Analyse) Order information, and store it safely (Use ICT) Work methodically (Logical) Justify your view point using the evidence you have found (Reasoning – articulate) Write at length accurately (Highly literate)

Transferable Skills These skills are sought after by many sectors but to name just a few: Politics Law Civil Service – Librarians, Administration Staff, Project Managers, Human Resources. Journalism Education Sector/Further Study

Links to other subject areas: History of medicine – Science Art History – Art Historical Buildings – Design Technology Religion as a theme – eg. Protestant Reformation – RE Social History – Politics