Has everything changed?�� Supporting students to see degrees of change in History.
Rachel Cliffe
@mrsrcliffe
Did it change quickly?
Did everyone’s lives change to the same extent?
How did it change?
What does change mean in History teaching?
Oxford Dictionary Definition= change is an act or process through which something becomes different.
In 1980, Shemilt attempted a summary of goals for pupils’ understanding of change. He noted that change can be continuous and evolutionary, or discontinuous and revolutionary, that change usually involves gradual transformations (in a given situation only a few things change at any one time), that history sees uneven rates of change, that there is never simply one line of development (many traditions of change and continuity interact), and that change, development and continuity do not necessarily mean ‘progress’
Change in History can be:
Change is a difficult historical concept to teach because it is complex, and it overlaps with other historical concepts:
There is no reason why disciplinary concepts cannot be combined in enquiry questions but reflect and acknowledge this within your teaching. Find ways to isolate change as a disciplinary concept within lesson activities or adapt enquiries or lessons to focus solely on change.
Types of historical change
Shemilt (1980) summarised 3 different types of historical change which can be used to frame enquiry questions, lesson activities and discussions. These can support students to see different degrees of change rather than it being a basic concept of X changed to Y.
This means how quickly/slowly did change happen at certain periods of time in History.
2. Degree or extent of change
This means how much change happened e.g., was it a period of major or minor change?
3. Nature or type of change
This means what type of change happened e.g., positive/ negative or economic/social change.
1. Pace or rate of change
Question stems
2. Degree or extent of change
Question Stems
3. Nature or type of change
Question Stems
Further Lesson activities
Hopeless Historian
Students re-write a generalized historical statement to provide evidence and support. It also encouraged students to use more sophisticated vocabulary
e.g. Living conditions changed a lot during the Industrial period.
e.g. There was only negative change in Britain during World War One.
Use interpretations to show change – example from Teaching History, What’s the wisdom
Writing narratives
Ask students to write narratives about change, this could allow students to consider different perspectives, the degree of change, the pace of change. It could be a creative writing task or a framed task e.g. a letter to a friend (obviously being sensitive about the topic choice for this type of task).
Scale down the focus of change
Look at how one village/ person’s life changed over a period of time to apply knowledge on wider contextual changes.
This can be a good way to incorporate local history as well!
Building vocabulary around change
Pace of change | Degree of change | Nature of Change | ||||
Quick Change | Gradual Change | High degree | Low Degree | Nature of change | Negative change | Positive change |
Explosive Accelerated Radical Abrupt Dramatic | Steady Stagnating Static Gradual Increment | Profound Total Decisive Pivotal Major Significant Momentous | Negligible Superficial Limited Minor Temporary | Economic Political Social Military Religious | Reverse Retreat Decay Diminish | Enhanced Transform Strengthen Improve |
Warning!
Some of these terms will need word-building around them before students attempt to use them.
You may need to provide definitions for some of the terms
This change vocabulary bookmark could be used during an extended writing task, selected terms could be used as retrieval practice or it could be used to create a vocabulary display (e.g., Hugh Richards).
References
Has everything changed?
Key takeaways