Revealing_the_big_picture_patterns_shapes_and_images_at_key_stage_3

6 TEACHING HISTORY 107 © TheHistoricalAssociation Big pictures WhatdoestheIndustrialRevolutionmeantoyou?Itmight conjureimagesofRichardArkwrightandCromfordMill. You might associate it with cholera and public health reform. Alternatively, you might have an... More

6 TEACHING HISTORY 107 © TheHistoricalAssociation Big pictures WhatdoestheIndustrialRevolutionmeantoyou?Itmight conjureimagesofRichardArkwrightandCromfordMill. You might associate it with cholera and public health reform. Alternatively, you might have an image of Cruickshank’s“ManchesterHeroes”. Whatmakesusable to make sense of the past is the ability to link these three eventstogetherandtoseetheconnectionsbetweenthem. Our view of the Industrial Revolution is shaped by how we see these events as causes and consequences which relatetoeachotherandbyourabilitytomakecomparisons between them and identify change. The result is a big pictureofindustrialisationinBritain. Inotherwords,our knowledge and understanding of the past is greater than the sum of its parts. Yet there are many factors at work which can prevent pupils from seeing the big pictures in history. One lesson a week at Key Stage 3 does not help, nor does the broad scope of the National Curriculum units that span such vas Less