Resources and ideas about children's understanding of Time

Time vocabulary

"Words that belong to history, rather than everyday vocabulary, need to be specially taught." Hilary Cooper, (in Blyth, J. 1988, History 5-9)

More and more history teachers are explicitly inducting pupils into the language of historical discourse by writing key words on the board, and using classroom wall displays with history specific vocabulary, in addition to timelines and time charts which attempt to refine their "framework" of aspects of the past (T2). Getting across and embedding into pupils’ consciousness a "time word" can be a key learning objective for a lesson. Quick pencil and paper tests, or learning homeworks can also be part of the development of time vocabulary.

Angela Leonard and James Mason have used the metaphor of the rope to describe the way in which children gradually strengthen their grasp of historical concepts or terms. In teaching history, as opposed to maths, often teachers do not "see the penny drop" in their pupils’eyes, ("Now I see why Hitler invaded Austria!"); often it is more a question of the gradual accretion of understanding of a concept, or the imperceptible increase in pupils’ active historical vocabulary. As Rosemary Westhill points out, "some learning can involve combining several approaches until an idea or concept is grasped. Pupils then come to understand the concept in a more informed and rounded manner." (TES, 24 March 2000)

It is important not to make assumptions about pupils’ grasp of time vocabulary. Time vocabulary can be quite complex for pupils because we have different ways and conventions for describing time. Over time, pupils should develop an understanding that there are different "systems" for describing time. As well as dates, there are vague phrases (long ago, in ancient times), words that describe time spans (generation, reign, decade), terms for large but inexact amounts of time (age, mesolithic) and for smaller but exact amounts of time (Victorian, the ‘fifties).

Dating systems can also use religious figures and events, historical events, and artistic and architectural movements. We need to gradually build up pupils’ understanding of these complexities as pupils go through their historical education.

 Opinions will vary on which column some of these words should be in, but the general point is that part of developing children’s understanding of time, and a sense of the past, is steadily working to develop their time related vocabulary. The list does not claim to be comprehensive; it attempts to give an indication of the sort of vocabulary which pupils might acquire as they undergo a historical education.

History vocabulary

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