Historical Enquiry Skills
KS1HI-KS1-D003
Asking and answering historical questions using a range of sources including artefacts, photographs, accounts and visits, to find out about the past.
National Curriculum context
Historical enquiry involves asking questions about the past and using evidence to construct answers. At KS1, pupils begin to work with a range of historical sources - artefacts, photographs, books, accounts - developing the ability to observe carefully, extract information and begin to understand that historical evidence is interpreted rather than simply read. This involves developing the pupil's capacity to ask historically valid questions: not just 'what happened?' but 'why did this happen?', 'how do we know?', 'what does this source tell us?'. Developing enquiry skills at KS1 establishes the habits of mind and methods of working that are essential to genuine historical thinking at later stages of education.
1
Concepts
1
Clusters
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Prerequisites
1
With difficulty levels
Lesson Clusters
Investigate historical sources and ask questions about the past
practice CuratedSingle concept domain; source-based enquiry is the defining historical skill at KS1 — pupils handle artefacts, photographs and documents, ask questions about what they show, and begin to understand that evidence can be incomplete or biased.
Teaching Suggestions (3)
Study units and activities that deliver concepts in this domain.
Florence Nightingale & Mary Seacole
History Study Comparison StudyPedagogical rationale
The pairing develops the disciplinary concept of significance: both women contributed to healthcare, but their recognition differed dramatically. This comparison introduces KS1 pupils to the idea that history involves selection and that some people are overlooked. It also develops similarity and difference through comparing two contemporaries from different backgrounds.
Rosa Parks & Emily Davison
History Study Comparison StudyPedagogical rationale
This pairing connects two struggles for equality across different times, countries and contexts. It develops the concept of significance (how one person's action can spark a movement) and similarity and difference (how different forms of injustice require different forms of resistance). It introduces age-appropriate discussion of fairness, rights and standing up for what is right.
Significant Local History
History Study Topic StudyPedagogical rationale
Local history at KS1 makes history tangible: pupils can walk to the historical sites, handle local artefacts, and hear stories from community elders. It develops the foundational understanding that history is not just about distant places and famous people but about the places and people pupils know.
Domain Vocabulary
15 terms across 1 concepts (15 domain-specific)
account(noun)
A spoken or written description of an event, used to find out about the past.
artefact(noun)
An object made or used by people in the past that helps us learn about how they lived.
bias(noun)
A one-sided view that favours one opinion over another, shaped by the creators beliefs.
document(noun)
A written or printed record that provides information or evidence about the past.
evidence(noun)
Information from sources such as objects, documents, or pictures that helps us work out what happened.
infer(verb)
To work out what something means by using clues from evidence rather than being told directly.
interpret(verb)
To explain the meaning of something, such as a source or event, based on the evidence.
observe(verb)
To look at something carefully in order to notice details and gather information.
past(noun)
The time before now; everything that has already happened.
photograph(noun)
A picture taken with a camera, used in history as evidence about events and people.
primary source(phrase)
Evidence created at the time of the event being studied, such as a letter or diary.
question(noun)
A sentence used to find out information; in history, the starting point for investigating the past.
reliable(adjective)
Trustworthy and likely to be accurate; a source that can be depended on.
secondary source(phrase)
Evidence created after the event by someone who was not there, such as a textbook.
source(noun)
Anything that gives us information about the past, including objects, documents, and buildings.
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Concepts (1)
Historical Sources and Evidence
Keystone skill Guided MaterialsHI-KS1-C004
Historical sources are the materials from which historians reconstruct the past - artefacts, photographs, documents, buildings, oral testimonies and other traces that survive from earlier times. Historical evidence is information extracted from sources by asking questions about them. At KS1, pupils begin to work with a range of sources, developing the ability to observe carefully, ask questions, extract information and begin to understand that sources provide evidence rather than complete and unmediated truth. This introduces the idea that history is a process of interpretation as well as discovery.
Teaching guidance
Bring a range of historical sources into the classroom: artefacts (or replicas), old photographs, letters, maps and accounts. Teach pupils a simple enquiry process: observe, question, infer, connect. Ask pupils what a source tells us and what it does not tell us. Compare sources about the same event or person. Use visit resources: museums, historic sites, community collections. Develop vocabulary for discussing sources: what is it? Who made it? When? Why? What can we learn from it? Begin to distinguish between primary (from the time) and secondary (written about the time later) sources.
Vocabulary (15 terms)
Common misconceptions
Pupils may treat all sources as equally reliable and complete. Introducing the idea that sources can be partial, biased or misleading even at KS1 develops critical thinking. Pupils may not understand that historians do not know everything about the past; emphasising what we do not know as well as what we do know models intellectual honesty. The concept of primary sources from 'the time' can be confusing; concrete examples help.
Difficulty levels
Observing a historical source (photograph, artefact, picture) and saying what they can see.
Example task
Look at this old photograph of a street. Tell me three things you can see in the picture.
Model response: I can see a horse pulling a cart. There are people wearing long clothes. The road is made of cobblestones.
Asking simple questions about a historical source and suggesting what it might tell us about the past.
Example task
Look at this old toy. What questions could you ask about it? What does it tell us about children in the past?
Model response: I wonder who played with it and how old it is. It tells us that children in the past played with wooden toys, not plastic ones. It doesn't have batteries so children had to use their imagination.
Using more than one source to find out about a historical event or person, and recognising that sources can tell us different things.
Example task
Here is a photograph and a letter from the same period. What does each one tell us? Do they tell us the same things or different things?
Model response: The photograph shows us what the building looked like — it had a thatched roof and small windows. The letter tells us how the person who lived there felt — they said it was cold in winter. The photograph shows the outside but the letter tells us about life inside. Together they tell us more than one source alone.
Delivery rationale
History interpretive concept — source analysis and perspective-taking require curated materials and facilitated discussion.