History // Historical Thinking

Understanding People in Their Own Time

Understand 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

Ages
8 to 10
Type
Thinking skill
Builds on
3 topics
Leads to
2 topics

Quick check

If the learner 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?

Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.

Topic // Mastery

What mastery looks like

What a learner can do once this topic is secure.
  • Historical Empathy: A Cognitive-Affective Theory (ERIC)
  • Year 4-6 historical empathy research

Topic // Map

Where this fits

What to learn first and what this topic opens up, with the reason for each link. Required links come first.
  • RequiredMust come first
  • HelpfulHelps, but not essential

Before this

3 topics
  • Different Accounts of the Same EventRequired

    Historical Thinking // Ages 6 to 8

    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

  • Vocabulary: historical thinkingHelpful

    Historical Thinking // Ages 6 to 10

    Judging historical actions in context draws on era, period, and chronology vocabulary

  • Connecting New & Old IdeasHelpful

    Learning to Learn // Learning to Learn // Ages 7 to 8

    Historical contextualisation requires connecting a person's actions to the world they inhabited — the same connecting habit used across all subjects

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Understanding People in Their Own Time

Ages 8 to 10 // Thinking skill

Leads to

2 topics
  • Evidence Versus InterpretationHelpful

    Historical Thinking // Ages 10 to 11

    Recognising that interpretation is shaped by context — including the historian's own time and perspective — builds on the contextualisation habit

  • Hidden Voices of Greece and RomeHelpful

    Ancient Greece & Rome // Ages 11 to 13

    Understanding historical context/empathy needed before evaluating lives of marginalised groups

History // Historical Thinking

More in Historical Thinking

All 7 topics