The project I will undertake for this semester will be the History themed projected discussed in my earlier post. Knowing this I have undergone some research into the ways history is being taught in the UK. Looking at a few articles from major national newspapers the main debate is what should we teach? Many historians state that we must learn about these key dates over others. The problem with this is that many major events get left out. Also if we only teach about the Second World War, pupils will miss out on how the Nazi Regime came to power and how the treaty of Versailles was a major factor in the start of the war.
Learning from this research my project will not only show the key dates of certain events but will also feature the events which lead up to such event. For example when students look up the 2nd World War there will be an option allowing the students to go further back in time and look at the events which lead to the war (End of WWI, Treaty of Versailles, Wall Street Crash, Rise of Nazism and the failure of the Wiemar Republic). This will give a further understanding of history and how it all links.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/how-should-we-teach-british-history-950804.html
Doing some further research an Of-stead report revealed some alarming statistics:
25% of all schools no longer teach history as a discrete subject in year 7
• 30% of comprehensives spend less than one hour a week on history in the years up to age 13
• More GCSE candidates took design and technology than history last year
• More A-level candidates took psychology.
Found at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/mar/29/history-school-crisis-disconnected-events
Personally these statistics are very shocking to me, even though my project wont be able to change the curriculum it may still be able to get more people interested in history. As it will use modern Technology which we all have access to it will allow students to explore history in their own time without having to be tested. My project will also be able to bring history t their living rooms. This is because I plan to have a feature which will show the user what their home town looked like in the past, by using archive photos, drawings and records. This will make history a more personal experience and hopefully show the users how history has effected us all and is an important subject to study.