C Curriculum Explorer
History·Historical Thinking·language

Vocabulary: historical thinking

Know and use the vocabulary of historical thinking — source, evidence, primary source, secondary source, artefact, chronology, chronological order, BC/BCE, AD/CE, century, decade, era, period, timeline, excavation, archaeologist, interpretation, corroborate, bias, perspective — and apply these terms when discussing how we know about the past and how reliable our knowledge is

Suggested ages 6–10

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Evidence of understanding

  • Correctly use BC/BCE and AD/CE to place events in time and explain what the letters stand for
  • Distinguish between a primary source and a secondary source with an example of each
  • Use 'evidence', 'interpretation', and 'bias' correctly in a sentence about a historical source

Assessment prompt

If you asked Vocabulary: historical thinking whether something they read in a history book was definitely true, could they explain why it might not be — using words like 'source', 'evidence', or 'bias'?

Standards alignment

No external standards are linked to this topic.