1. Teach through historical enquiries.
Enquiries are the most effective subject pedagogy in history, not least because when well drafted, they make pupils think. You will notice that all the lessons on the site deliberately have as their focus a puzzling key question. These not only cover important content, they also help pupils to develop worthwhile historical skills and conceptual understanding.
Taught well, they should also help pupils to realise that history is a construct from evidence and that not all questions can be answered with certainty. To achieve this, try this device. Instead of giving lots of information/evidence all at once, drip feed it in, making sure that some of it is contradictory, if you can. That way pupils are constantly adjusting their thinking. Try to use phrases such as ‘Now what if I were to tell you..?’ to create those moments of tension in the classroom
And finally, make the enquiry meaningful to pupils’ lives and current events.
2. Develop pupils’ historical questioning.
We want pupils to be thoughtful and curious. So, encourage them to ask questions. I’m not a fan of young pupils planning their own enquiry questions as this is a sophisticated art and they need
