Showing papers in "Education 3-13 in 1983"

History through drama with top juniors

Abstract: Our writers so far have emphasised the concepts, skills and values which can be fostered through topic work. Vivienne Little discusses the role of drama in encouraging historical understanding. She gives some lucid and expertly-documented examples of how children can be helped “to realise that people read about history books were real and had experiences and feelings …” Interestingly, her ideas on the importance of children's “play” and the centrality of narrative (“the essence of history”) extends points raised by Liz Thomson in the Spring issue of 3–13 .

The myth of the pre-school

Abstract: The next two articles are closely linked in theme and purpose. Jean Northam first turns our attention to an area under-represented in articles submitted to 3–13 . She claims that our notions of ‘pre-school’ education are often too bland, “mythically powerful … empirically non-existent”. She argues that this results in both over-simplified discussions of provision and policy and in a blurred view of the various social influences upon very young children. Her article is a timely updating of the current research — and will hopefully promote more contributions from practitioners in the areas discussed.