Historical Skills Toolbox

Chronology, terms and concepts

The history curriculum enables students to learn about their own social context of family, friends and school, and the significance of the past. They engage with the remains of the past - local, national, international, ancient; develop a concept of time as present, past, future - and of continuity and change over time.  As they progress through the Curriculum, students explore the relationship between events and developments in different time periods and places; acquire a knowledge of historical terms and concepts and the contexts in which to apply this vocabulary.http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/History/Curriculum/F-10

 Historical Skill:  Chronology, terms and concepts

Students:

• sequence familiar objects and events and begin to use terms that distinguish between past, present and future 
• develop an understanding of the heritage of their community and of their ability to contribute to it
• become aware of similarities and differences between people
• become more aware of diversity in the wider community
• awareness of the concept of change over time
• older students begin to construct more complex timelines, with annotations
• place significant historical events into chronological order
• through the process of historical inquiry, students develop a vocabulary of historical terms and understand the concepts behind those terms
• in high school, students extend further into sequencing historical events, developments and periods
• use chronological sequencing to demonstrate the relationship between events and developments in different periods and places 
• Students develop the skills to identify ‘broader patterns of continuity and change’ (elaborations)
• students begin to understand the contestability of different historical terms, for example, ‘settlement’ ‘invasion’ and ‘colonisation’

• Foundation:  students use photographs from their personal family collection to place significant events in their lives thus far into chronological order; using key historical terms
  
• Year Four: students place key events of early contact history in chronological order; using key historical terms
  
• Year Seven:  students show the approximate beginning and end dates of ancient societies, and when they co-existed, on an annotated timeline
  
• Year Eight and above:  students create an interactive timeline that represents the relationships between events in different times and places