What Is History?
What Is History?
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What Is History?
Open with the idea that history is more than memorising dates. It is a way of studying and explaining the past using evidence.
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Learning goal
I can understand what history is and identify the main types of evidence historians use to study the past.
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What words come to mind when you hear history?
Use this to surface prior ideas such as past, dates, wars, evidence, stories or people. Briefly note misconceptions like 'just facts' or 'just dates' to revisit later.
History as the study of the past
History is the study of people, events and change over time.
It looks at what happened in the past, but also at how we know about it.
Historians gather evidence, compare sources and build accounts of earlier times.
Stress that history is not the past itself. The past has already happened; history is our attempt to understand and explain it.
The past and history are not the same
Past events are the things that really happened
History is the explanation people create about those events
That explanation depends on the evidence that survives
New evidence can change what historians think
A simple way to phrase this: the past cannot be changed, but historical interpretation can change when evidence is re-examined.
Why history matters
It helps us understand how societies changed
It explains where ideas, laws and traditions come from
It shows that people in the past made choices
It helps us judge claims about the past more carefully
If useful, mention that history matters in everyday life because people often use the past to support arguments in the present.
Historians ask evidence-based questions
Historians do not only ask what happened?
They also ask:
who was involved
what evidence survives
whose viewpoint is missing
This slide sets up later work on sources and differing accounts. Keep the emphasis on enquiry and evidence.
Sources and evidence
A source is something that gives information about the past.
Historians use sources as evidence to work out what happened, when it happened and what people thought about it.
Clarify that a source becomes evidence when it is used to answer a historical question.
Which statement best explains the difference between the past and history?
The past is events; history is explanation
The past is opinion; history is fact
The past is writing; history is memory
The past is old; history is modern
Checks the key disciplinary idea from slides 2–5. Distractors reflect common oversimplifications about fact, memory and age.
Complete the summary
History is the study of the past. Historians use evidence to build accounts, and new sources can change how events are explained.
Echoes the wording of slides 2, 3 and 6. Each blank is load-bearing and fixed by meaning.
Why do you think history matters today?
Expected elements: history matters because it helps us understand change over time, where ideas/laws/traditions come from, how people made choices, and how to judge claims about the past. Invite one clear reason with a brief example if students can offer one.
Primary sources
Primary sources come from the time being studied or were made by people who were there.
Examples include letters, diaries, photographs, artefacts and census records.
You may want to point out that 'from the time' does not always mean fully accurate; it means contemporary to the event or period.
Secondary sources
Secondary sources are later accounts that explain or interpret the past.
They often use primary sources to build a wider picture, such as in textbooks, documentaries or history books.
Emphasise that secondary sources are not 'worse' than primary sources. They are useful because they bring many sources together.
Examples of historical evidence
Primary sources
Letters - personal communication
Diaries - daily thoughts and events
Photographs - visual records
Artefacts - objects people made or used
Census records - information about populations
Later accounts - explanations written afterwards
Official records - documents created by institutions
More sources historians use
If students need it, explain that one event may be studied through many different source types at once.
How historians build an account
Sources are rarely enough on their own.
Historians compare evidence, check details, notice agreement and disagreement, and then build the best account they can from what survives.
This is the key disciplinary idea: historians construct accounts from incomplete evidence rather than simply 'finding the answer'.
Which source is a primary source?
A documentary
A textbook
A later account
A diary
Tests recognition of primary versus secondary sources using examples named on slides 7–9.
Complete the explanation
A primary source comes from the time being studied. A secondary source is a later account. Historians compare sources to build the best account they can.
Draws together slides 7–10: source type and how historians use comparison.
Why might one source not be enough?
Expected elements: students should mention comparing sources, checking details, noticing agreement/disagreement, and building an account from what survives rather than relying on one source alone.
Chronology and historical time
Chronology means putting events in time order.
Historians use dates and timelines to see:
what happened first
what happened later
how events connect
Keep chronology simple here: order, sequence and connection rather than advanced periodisation.
Using dates and timeline order
Dates help historians place events accurately.
A timeline helps us see sequence and change over time.
Without chronology, it is hard to explain causes, effects or long-term change.
You can model this quickly with any familiar example, such as school events across a year, without adding new historical content.
Different people may describe one event differently
Two people can witness the same event but remember or describe it in different ways.
Their position, feelings, knowledge and purpose can shape what they say.
Avoid calling one version automatically true and the other false. The point is that perspective affects accounts, so historians must compare evidence.
What historians do with different accounts
When accounts differ, historians:
compare them with other sources
check who created each source
consider when and why it was made
decide which details are most reliable
This slide links interpretation, sources and chronology into one process of historical reasoning.
What does chronology help historians see?
Time order
Personal feelings
Missing pages
Object value
Checks the core meaning of chronology from slides 11–12.
Complete the historical thinking summary
A timeline shows events in time order. Different people may describe one event differently because of their position or purpose. Historians then compare accounts to judge which details are most reliable.
Connects chronology with differing accounts and reliability from slides 11–14.
Which idea from this lesson feels most useful to you?
Past vs history
Primary sources
Chronology
Different accounts
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What is one thing you will remember?
Encourage students to name one clear takeaway from the lesson, such as the difference between past and history, source types, chronology, or why accounts can differ.
What part of this lesson felt hardest?
Use responses to identify sticking points for review. Likely areas: primary vs secondary sources, chronology, or how historians judge reliability.
Glossary
history - the study of the past using evidence
past - events that have already happened
historian - a person who studies and explains the past
source - something that gives information about the past
evidence - information from sources used to support an account
primary source - a source from the time being studied
secondary source - a later account that explains or interprets the past
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Glossary
chronology - the arrangement of events in time order
timeline - a line showing the order of events by date
artefact - an object made or used by people in the past
census record - an official record of a population
interpretation - an explanation of the past based on evidence
account - a description or explanation of what happened
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