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Introduction
Present the content of History to diverse pupils in view to stimulate and promote engagement
with the subject
To make learning of History interesting and motivating for pupils, teachers must adopt a range of
teaching strategies that:
1. Address the needs of the learners
2. Cater for different learning styles
3. Make learning of History enjoyable and fun
Pedagogical repertoire
In order to teach anything to anyone, one needs a broad pedagogical repertoire. Teacher must
have the widest possible range of strategies for connecting children with subject matter.
The pedagogical repertoire consists of three aspects supporting what is to be learned: facts,
concepts, skills, processes, beliefs and attitudes.
Aspect 1: Approaches, activities, examples and illustrations for representing what is to be
learned.
Aspect 2: wide range of teaching approaches: storytelling, Socratic dialogue, drama, role play,
simulation, demonstration, modeling, problemsolving, singing, playing games, knowledge
transformation, question and answer, instructing, explaining and giving feedback.
Aspect 3: Generic strategies and skills (acting skills)
Lesson Plan
A lesson plan is a teachers detailed
description of the course of instruction
for
an
individual
lesson.
Proper
3.
The task of the teacher is to render the abstract ideas concrete which children can observe,
understand, handle and compare.
Guiding principle in developing strategies and techniques for History teaching:
1. Story telling
Story telling has for a long time been a common practice at pre-primary and at lower primary
levels.
Tell or read a story:
offer children insights into their own lives and help them to imagine worlds beyond their
experience
helps children to imagine what it feels like to be someone else and to see things from
Discussion and questioning follow story-telling. The value of stories in fostering historical
attitudes, concepts and skills depends rather more on follow - up discussion and activities than on
the simple telling of the tale.
Story-telling can also be followed by drawing and painting by pupils and their works are then
exhibited on the walls.
2. Brainstorming and Concept Map: a teaching strategy that is applicable at all stages in
primary
At the beginning of each new lesson, teachers normally carry out a preparatory exercise known
as brainstorming and oral discussion where the whole class is involved.
It is important for teachers to consider the previous knowledge and experiences of pupils on the
topic. They encourage pupils to express themselves and show what they already know about the
subject. Teacher list the key words on the board. New terms are also introduced. A simple
concept map is thus elaborated on the board. For example:
While teaching voyages of discovery, the map of the Indian Ocean is studied. The map
study will provide an understanding of the isolation of the Mascarene Islands and the
distance from countries with settled population like Madagascar, Africa and India.
At the same time, it will provide an opportunity for the teacher to explain that, although,
many civilizations existed in different countries around the Indian Ocean, yet, Mauritius
Brainstorming and concept mapping should to be applied to all lessons by the teachers.
3. Picturing the past: Images
Images are a highly effective resource for getting children to read to talk and learn about
the past.
Children are surrounded by visual images in their everyday lives.
Nurturing their ability to see and observe might well be as important as teaching them
reading, writing and counting.
Visual literacy skills play a crucial role in developing modes of imagination which
privilege artistic, literary and historical creativity.
Images offer children:
Opportunities to talk about their own experience of the past, of different places and
countries
A source for comparing past and present and for different interpretations, information and
(incompleteness of evidence)
Opportunities for comparing similarities and differences between different kinds of visual
images (photographs, paintings)
Activities:
Example 1:
1. Show a few large pictures and discuss with the whole class
2. Follow up with more in-depth sessions in small groups
3. Children can start by simply talking about what they see in one or two of the pictures
provided.
4. Allowing children the freedom to speculate about what they see and understand in the
pictures
5. Helps them to take risks, exchange ideas and learn from each other's thoughts
6. Introduce some contemporary postcards or photographs to stimulate a simple comparison
between present and past or new and old
7. Ask the children to compare two pictures, asking them:
What can you see in the pictures?
What do you think is happening?
Does anything in the pictures remind you of something?
When do you think the pictures were taken (nowadays, a long time ago)?
Which one do you think is new and which one is old?
Also ask questions about specific aspects of each picture.
Different point of view
Give a small group of children one of the pictures and ask them to narrate the story they think
it tells. Their versions can be compared and discussed with the whole class.
Differences between times in the past
As children acquire greater experience of reading pictures, they can be given progressively
more sophisticated tasks.
Revisiting
At this stage, getting the picture right (that is, historically accurate) is less important
than the confidence to ask questions, speculate about possible alternatives
A lesson on the nature of activities in the sugarcane fields, in the past and in the present.
Children may be asked to consider the characteristics of the evolution that have taken place.
4. Experiencing the past: Artefacts
Artefacts are real things made by people. Like visual images they are part of children's everyday
lives.
In their homes and communities, children have already observed, examined, handled and
preserved objects which may be cultural artefacts
Artefacts have the capacity to engage children's curiosity and interest to want to know more. By
working with real objects, handling, discussing, remembering and making comparisons, children
can begin to understand:
Avoid conveying messages of inferiority and superiority related to old and new
By adopting a global perspective emphasize that people in many parts of the world still
find certain things that we have discarded.
Organize activity where Children can investigate the artefacts directly, guided by the
following questions:
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
What color is it?
What shape does it have?
Does it have any writing on it?
What is it made for?
What was it used for?
Following the discussion, children can draw an artefact of their choice and write a few things
about it. The same object can be drawn from different angles, encouraging children to represent
size and shape accurately in their drawings so they record their experience of the artefact.
Visits to appropriate museums provide yet another way for children to investigate artefacts as
material remains of the past.
For example: while teaching the topic Life and Times of Indian Immigrants teachers can explain
that the life and times of Indian immigrants was difficult. Indians came to Mauritius to work as
laborers in the sugar cane fields.
The lesson can be introduced by brainstorming children. They can be explained about the need
for laborers.
Indians lived on sugar estates and did various jobs in the fields: removing trees and rocks, tilling the soil
and planting cane. During the harvest, they had to cut the cane and carry the cane on carts to the factory.
On the estates, the Indians lived in huts which were small and not well ventilated. They had little
leisure and rest.
For many children, it is difficult to imagine the life led by Indian immigrants on the estates. One of
the ways of understanding that period is through pictures and documentaries. The other is to visit the
Mahatma Gandhi Folk Museum, where artefacts of that period are exposed. Pupils will have the
opportunity to see with their own eyes objects (artefacts) used in the agricultural tools, to kitchen
utensils, and also object having to do with culture and traditions of the Indians.
also from the observation of old buildings, archaeological remains, pictures and films.
Fieldwork is an important opportunity to bring 'life' to history teaching. It is a
practical activity that is linked with first hand evidence. During the fieldwork the
teacher acts as a guide and helps the children to observe. Children write in their
At
Children are gradually exposed to what is happening in the locality where they live
They start to understand the world that lies outside their home
They ask questions on the purpose of buildings they observe.
lower primary, school children can visit the locality and explore the neighborhood of the
school.
At upper primary more activities are carried out in the locality.
For example:
Children in Rodrigues can visit any village and note changes in agriculture, road
transport, private and public buildings and the materials used to build them.
Children are required to find out when the main public buildings were set up, whether
any form of transport existed in the past and how people carried the produce of the
interior?
When was the first hospital built and how people went there?
What forms of transport existed in the past between the different inland
Brainstorming: to find out what the children already know about the place they are going
to visit
Prepare a questionnaire to be used by pupils during fieldwork
A study of the map of the area to be visited is carried out as it involves both History and
Geography
C. During Fieldwork
Pupils are required to:
Keep a notebook
Answer a questionaire
Record informations in many ways: drawing, photographs, interviews
Teacher explains the importance of the site visited
Give instruction concerning what to observe: buildings, roads, canals, shops, agricultural
cultures
Pupils must be provided with historical knowledge before role play a history situation
For example to role play an Indian indentured laborer working in a sugarcane filed in 19 th
Use of ICT:
ICT programs help pupils throughout the inquiry process to gather; organize information
and communicate their findings
The use of ICT tools such as digital camera while engaging in field activity
Use simulations through technology when field studies are not feasible
Pupils should be encouraged to use ICT to support and communicate their findings
Current ICT tools are useful both as research tools and as creative media that enable
students:
To obtain evidence from digital atlases
To access to archives, museums and heritage sites around the world
To gather statistics relevant to local, national and global issues
To use digital cameras, interactive white boards, projectors and the Sankore for
multimedia presentations that communicate their findings in creative and
engaging ways
Though internet is a powerful learning tool, there are potentials risks attached to it.
ICT tools are also useful to teachers for:
Classroom instruction
Design of curriculum units that contain varied approaches to learning in order to meet
diverse needs
Conclusion:
Key questions:
Why is it important for the teacher to plan his/her lesson?
Why should teachers adopt a variety of teaching strategies in class?