Deepening and Broadening Students' Understanding of Historical Evidence

Our Year Eight students have been exploring life in Ancient Rome. The unit focuses on how historians use historical evidence. We've drawn on the scholarship of Professor Mary Beard to help students grasp the complexities of using historical evidence meaningfully.

Students encounter several challenges when working with historical evidence. These include the vast range of evidence historians might employ: physical artefacts, visual representations such as paintings and frescoes, and written documents such as letters. Secondly, fully understanding the evidence requires substantial contextual knowledge. Lastly, and most critically, is recognizing that the source itself isn't the evidence. Historians must interpret the source to extract the evidence from it.

Early in the unit, we established the historical context by discussing the geography of the Roman Empire and its place in the broader historical timeline. We used visual materials and video clips to bring to life the experience of an ordinary Roman citizen. I then introduced students to Professor Mary Beard through short video clips in which she examines a range of artefacts, historical ruins and written sources, and explains her interpretations. What is particularly useful for students is for them to see how Professor Beard hedges her language when drawing conclusions - she makes it clear that the evidence is pointing her in a particular direction but is not completely conclusive.

Using historical scholarship with students so early in their historical journey is a relatively recent approach, and has only begun to be more widely adopted by history teachers in the last 5-10 years. Research suggests that early exposure helps learners understand how experts develop their knowledge. It can enable them to perceive history through the eyes of historians and thus to begin to understand the challenges of working with evidence.

Engaging students is key, and we employ methods that activate prior knowledge and utilize effective scaffolding. As seen in the linked YouTube video, I began the lesson with a round of Blooket. This game requires students to match definitions to keywords. Incorrect answers are repeated, allowing for self-correction. This low-stakes approach assesses students' recall of key terms and primes them for more complex tasks.

Throughout the unit, we've used various scaffolding techniques. By focusing on a central concept - evidence -throughout the unit and regularly revisiting it, students are able to connect new learning to prior knowledge. Thus the concept works to scaffold their understanding. Writing scaffolds, such as sentence starters, word banks, or graphic organizers, provide structure for written work. For instance, in the lesson showcased students make use of Venn diagrams as a way to focus their minds on combining different elements of the learning from previous lessons.

Another scaffolding technique involves student collaboration. "Think-Pair-Share" activities encourage independent thought, paired discussion, and sharing understandings with the whole class. We also had students read each other's written responses, thus catering to those who find it easier to absorb written information.

As can been seen at the end of the showcased lessons the students’ responses indicate a growing understanding that historians interpret sources to reach conclusions about the lives of people in history. The answers show that they are beginning to use contextual clues to comprehend written and visual sources.

To add complexity to the unit, we've interwoven a secondary theme: the contradictory nature of evidence. Professor Beard cautions against making assumptions about the lives of ordinary Romans. For instance, the experiences of enslaved Romans varied widely, from harsh treatment to integration into families and professional roles.

Later in the year, we'll delve deeper into historical evidence by examining the reliability of sources. We'll scrutinise the context of source creation, the intended audience as well as the author's access to information.