“Such is the success of these clips that students ask if we have any clips when we start a new topic and their recall of information in assessed pieces is excellent and when asked in student panels what helps them learn KS3 students have mentioned the 60 second history clips every time.”
By Rachel Crouch, Head of History, Severn Vale School
We have been using 60 second histories for a year and they are an invaluable tool in our classrooms. It provides an ideal clip across a large range of ever-growing topics, which saves hours of time looking for suitable things to show especially at KS3. It’s a very clever resource as it focuses very closely on the key aspects covered at KS3 and as they are 60 seconds we can use several of them during a lesson to enhance the learning. The Civil War characters are such an example of this-a perfect resource looking at the different weapons & characters in this period it helps students understand a challenging topic.
Such is the success of these clips that students ask if we have any clips when we start a new topic and their recall of information in assessed pieces is excellent and when asked in student panels what helps them learn KS3 students have mentioned the 60 second History clips every time. It supports flipped learning in the classroom as the students can view it prior to a topic so that they already have a baseline for us to build from. It is also a brilliant revision resource for knowledge tests and assessments as you can set the videos you want the students to view.
From our point of view we can rely on them being accurate & linked to the curriculum, we can group them into sections by creating our virtual classroom making them even easier to use & set up lessons. We know students like them and learn from them, according to one student panel ‘they’re as good as Horrible History clips and sometimes better as they tell us what we need to know quickly.”; “they’re much better than boring school videos, I want to listen to these people!”
The subscription is value for money compared to other resources and when compared to the amount of time it is used in the classroom. At a time when departments are running on tight budgets I have recommended this resource to other colleagues in primary and secondary schools, as well as to those who are training to teach History. We can suggest them to anyone who is covering in our department as a tool to help the delivery or the independent work pupils have been set.
We spent a long time wishing there was just such a set of videos we could use and we now have more than we hoped for. Kevin & Julie are open to suggestions and are constantly adding new material or new ideas. It is an indispensable resource to busy teachers and students love them-perfect!
