6TEACHING HISTORY97
© TheHistoricalAssociation
ClaireRileyClaireRileyClaireRileyClaireRileyClaireRiley
ClaireRileyisaNewlyQualifiedTeacherofhistoryatChadwell
HeathSchool(11-18comprehensive)nearRomford,Essex.
Since the growth in popularity of the Schools...
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6TEACHING HISTORY97
© TheHistoricalAssociation
ClaireRileyClaireRileyClaireRileyClaireRileyClaireRiley
ClaireRileyisaNewlyQualifiedTeacherofhistoryatChadwell
HeathSchool(11-18comprehensive)nearRomford,Essex.
Since the growth in popularity of the Schools History
Project(SHP)duringthe1980s, source-workhasplayed
an important role in many history lessons.
But as any
good history teacher knows, when used badly, sources
serve only to confuse pupils, leaving them with a
fragmentary and confused picture.
All too often, pupils
take a quick glimpse at a source, think ‘What does this
source tell me?’ discard it as biased (and therefore
useless) and move onto Source B.
1
By contrast, used imaginatively, sources allow pupils to
develop both historical knowledge and valuable
evidential and literacy skills that will allow them to
reach balanced and rigorous conclusions.
2
Hilary
Cooper’s idea of helping pupils to distinguish between
different degrees of certainty or, as I was trained to
think of i
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