General

Teaching WW1 across the pond (contributed by Prof Troy R. E. Paddock)

While our project focused on schools in England, research on how the First World War is taught is of course happening elsewhere, too. Professor Troy Paddock, Professor of Modern European History at Southern Connecticut State University, has kindly agreed to make available an article he co-authored with Dr Catherine K. Shortell for the journal The History Teacher in 2011. You can download the article below.

The article, entitled ‘Teaching the Great War through Peace’, looks specifically at teaching the war in a US context. With all of the time constraints and institutional pressures that teachers face, it argues, it may seem odd to suggest using an anomalous event such as the Christmas Truce to study the First World War. + Read the full post…

Beyond the Trenches: Researching the First World War

Contributed by Al Golding, Communications Co-ordinator AHRC

worldwaroneanditslegacyBeyond the Trenches is an online resource reflecting a variety of perspectives on arts and humanities research into the First World War in the year of the centennial commemoration.

This blog is run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), one of the First World War Centenary partners. Enter your email address here to get updates about the blog. The AHRC would particularly welcome teachers getting involved in the discussion which can be done by contributing comments underneath each blog entry.

Trench Brothers – First World War Primary Schools Project

Contributed by Tertia Sefton-Green, Creative Director,  HMDT Music

Trench Brothers is HMDT Music’s new primary school project commemorating the achievements and contributions made by ethnic minority forces, which combines a wide range of curriculum-linked, arts and skills-based activities with a new music theatre work. Delivered in partnership with the National Army Museum and the Little Angel Theatre, the project includes artefact handling sessions, composition workshops, puppetry workshops, access to a cross-curricular teaching resource supporting the new National Curriculum across all subjects, and an interactive staged performance. + Read the full post…

Using period cinema to teach 1914 context

Contributed by Thomas Humphrey, British Film Institute

On the 1 August 2014, visiting cinemas across the UK, the BFI National Archive will release a collection of films from 1914 which will recreate for audiences what a trip to the cinema would have been like 100 years ago.  From aeroplane stunts to original footage of the Suffragettes, this collection of films will present an interesting glimpse of everyday life in 1914 and Europe’s descent into the First World War. A Night at the Cinema in 1914 - Daisy Doodad's Dial + Read the full post…

Free Historic Newspapers WW1 teaching resource

Contributed by Thomas Walker, representative of Historic Newspapers

If you’re looking to teach students about the significance of the First World War, you can now do so with a free educational pack of historic newspaper materials. The UK’s largest private archive of old newspapers, Historic Newspapers, stock more than seven million genuine original newspapers in their ever-growing collection and have decided to select interesting and important coverage from significant historical dates – all in the name of learning – with a view to teach others about the past, as it was reported at the time.

Historic newspapers image + Read the full post…