ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduced a number of cameos of creative teaching in history and set out a concept of creativity and creative teaching which informs the presentation of teaching history in this book. History however is not an isolated subject. There are connections to the whole of the primary curriculum. Cooper (1992, 2000) remarked that history is an umbrella discipline, embracing, through the study of past peoples and cultures, all their art, science, design technology, religion, philosophy, music, dance, song, geography and values. Some understanding is needed of the nature of the primary curriculum, and of the discipline of history, to inform teaching approaches and the design of learning activities. There follows a brief discussion of the primary teaching context and the primary curriculum, touching briefly on the history and nature of primary teaching, and on curriculum integration and topic/thematic work. Next the focus is on history in the primary curriculum, its nature and structures. Finally there is an introduction to the pedagogical repertoire and how it may be used to teach high-quality, challenging history, which exercises proper historical skills and processes and promotes the engagement of the historical imagination. The rest of the book deals with how to achieve these aims.
