Understanding People in Their Own Time
METAUnderstand that people in the past saw the world very differently from us — judge their actions by the context they lived in, not only by today's values
Mastery Evidence
- Historical Empathy: A Cognitive-Affective Theory (ERIC)
- Year 4-6 historical empathy research
Assessment Prompt
“If [child] learns that people in the past did something that seems wrong today, can they think about why those people might have believed it was normal or right at the time?”
Prerequisites3
- Different Accounts of the Same EventhardAges 6—8
- Connecting New & Old IdeassoftAges 7—8
- Vocabulary: historical thinkingsoftAges 6—10
Show full prerequisite tree
- Different Accounts of the Same Event hard
Contextualising past behaviour requires first accepting that the same event can look different from different viewpoints — contextualisation is the deeper explanation for why accounts differ
- Evidence from the Past hard
Recognising that accounts can differ requires first understanding that accounts exist because people left behind evidence
- Thinking Before Starting soft
Understanding that knowledge of the past comes from surviving evidence builds on the habit of activating prior knowledge — what do I already know, and where did that knowledge come from?
- Persisting When It's Hard hard
Activating prior knowledge requires the foundational habit of persistent engagement with new material
- Vocabulary: historical thinking hard
Understanding that everything we know comes from evidence requires 'evidence' and 'source' vocabulary
- Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas soft
Acquiring the specialist vocabulary of historical thinking (source, bias, chronology, corroborate) builds on the academic vocabulary development taught in English
- Discussing and Questioning New Words hard
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary acquisition builds on the habit of discussing word meanings and linking new vocabulary to known words
- Defining Words soft
Defining academic words requires the ability to define words by category and attribute
- How Many in Total? soft
Sorting and categorising objects uses the same counting/cardinality skills from maths
- One-to-one counting hard
Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
- Comparing Characters Across Stories soft
Recognising that different people give different accounts of the same event is the historical application of the English skill of comparing and contrasting two texts on the same topic
- Connecting New & Old Ideas soft
Comparing and contrasting characters or texts draws on the universal habit of connecting new ideas to existing knowledge
- Thinking Before Starting hard
Making connections between new and old ideas requires the habit of activating prior knowledge first
- Persisting When It's Hard hard
Activating prior knowledge requires the foundational habit of persistent engagement with new material
- Feelings Change and Differ soft
Comparing characters' adventures and reactions in stories is enriched by the foundational SEL understanding that the same event can make different people feel differently
- Spotting Patterns soft
Identifying patterns and similarities across texts is the reading form of the universal pattern-recognition habit
- Connecting New & Old Ideas soft
Spotting patterns across domains is an extension of the habit of connecting new ideas to existing ones
- Thinking Before Starting hard
Making connections between new and old ideas requires the habit of activating prior knowledge first
- Persisting When It's Hard hard
Activating prior knowledge requires the foundational habit of persistent engagement with new material
- Vocabulary: historical thinking hard
Recognising that different accounts exist requires 'source', 'perspective', and 'interpretation' vocabulary
- Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas soft
Acquiring the specialist vocabulary of historical thinking (source, bias, chronology, corroborate) builds on the academic vocabulary development taught in English
- Discussing and Questioning New Words hard
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary acquisition builds on the habit of discussing word meanings and linking new vocabulary to known words
- Defining Words soft
Defining academic words requires the ability to define words by category and attribute
- How Many in Total? soft
Sorting and categorising objects uses the same counting/cardinality skills from maths
- One-to-one counting hard
Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
- Spotting Patterns soft
Recognising that accounts diverge in systematic ways — based on who is telling the story — is an application of the universal pattern-recognition habit
- Connecting New & Old Ideas soft
Spotting patterns across domains is an extension of the habit of connecting new ideas to existing ones
- Thinking Before Starting hard
Making connections between new and old ideas requires the habit of activating prior knowledge first
- Persisting When It's Hard hard
Activating prior knowledge requires the foundational habit of persistent engagement with new material
- Connecting New & Old Ideas soft
Historical contextualisation requires connecting a person's actions to the world they inhabited — the same connecting habit used across all subjects
- Thinking Before Starting hard
Making connections between new and old ideas requires the habit of activating prior knowledge first
- Persisting When It's Hard hard
Activating prior knowledge requires the foundational habit of persistent engagement with new material
- Vocabulary: historical thinking soft
Judging historical actions in context draws on era, period, and chronology vocabulary
- Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areas soft
Acquiring the specialist vocabulary of historical thinking (source, bias, chronology, corroborate) builds on the academic vocabulary development taught in English
- Discussing and Questioning New Words hard
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary acquisition builds on the habit of discussing word meanings and linking new vocabulary to known words
- Defining Words soft
Defining academic words requires the ability to define words by category and attribute
- How Many in Total? soft
Sorting and categorising objects uses the same counting/cardinality skills from maths
- One-to-one counting hard
Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'
Unlocks2
- Hidden Voices of Greece and RomesoftAges 11—13
- Evidence Versus InterpretationsoftAges 10—11