ABSTRACT
The notion of ‘enquiry’ is fundamental to the study of history. Indeed the title of the first work of history, written by Herodotus in the fifth century Bce was simply ‘Enquiry’ – the Greek word ‘ίστρία’ or ‘historia’. While his first motive was to ensure that ‘the great deeds of men would not be forgotten’ the questions he set out to answer were why the Greek city states came into conflict with the Persian Empire and why they were able to resist them. Although the idea of enquiry-based learning has deep roots in progressive and constructivist conceptions of learning, in history teaching the principle of structuring students’ learning around a series of questions or enquiries that drives each unit of work was popularised in England by the series of Schools History Project textbooks published in response to the first National Curriculum. Many schools’ schemes of work (and some public exam specifications) are now structured around a series of key questions.
