More than facts: teaching complexity in history

You know history is complex. How do you teach that in the classroom?

We unpack what 'complexity' in history means and how to bring it to life for your students.

As history educator Jonathon Dallimore puts it, “Factual information… is not sufficient. Information doesn’t guarantee that you actually have insight."

Because there’s the past (everything that’s happened) and then there’s history: the way we interpret, debate and make meaning of the past.

You’ll hear from experienced teachers and history educator Jonathon Dallimore, on why history is complex, with examples, and how to teach contestability and historical thinking skills to junior and secondary students.

Students are already debating the world around them. This is about helping them bring those skills into history.

Resources and tipsheet

• A Practical Guide for Secondary School Teachers. By Jonathon Dallimore
• Teaching history, teaching complexity: Agora, Vol. 53, No. 3, Dec 2018, 36-39 (free download for members of the History Teachers Association of Victoria)
• ‘Historical time’ helps students truly understand the complexity of the past – and how they fit into it: The Conversation https://doi.org/10.64628/AAO.nfmakjwre
• Free professional development tipsheet for this episode (in Teacher Downloads)

Voices

Educators: Natalie Abadier (New South Wales), Sarah Coleman (Queensland) and Jonathon Dallimore, History Teachers Association of New South Wales.

Host: Professor Anna Clark

Credits

• Hey History Teacher! is supported by the History Teachers Association of NSW.
• Executive Producer is Professor Anna Clark.
• Producer is Jane Curtis at UTS Impact Studios.
• Sound engineering by John Jacobs.
• Made on Gadigal Country in Sydney Australia.