Do you think Grandpa’s

experiences of walking such

long distances had anything to
do with his buying a bus?
Explain your answer.
● Calculate how many
kilometres Grandpa ● In which parish is
travelled to school each Wakefield located?
day.

● Find out if children in

Wakefield walk long
distances to school.
● Start a blog and share
Grandpa’s experiences with
your friends and ask them
how their grandparents
travelled from place to
place.

● Comment on two or more of

your classmates’ postings
and share your own
experience.
How do you think the children
in Wakefield were affected by
walking such long distances to
school?
What history would you extract
from Grandpa’s story. Explain
your answer.
 What is History?

Several students in Grade 9

were asked this question
during the first term of their
secondary education:
 What is History?

Here are some of their

answers.
History is about trying to make
life better and more
comfortable.
History is about about my
ancestors - how they lived,
what they ate and how they
survived.
History is an illustration of
happenings of the past.
History is what other
generations have left for us to
read.
Do you agree or disagree with any
of the definitions of history
presented by the Grade 9 student?
In ONE sentence, write your own
definition of history, and compare
it with the ones given by the
students.
There are many ways to define
history accurately. Read the
definitions below and discuss
each in detail in class, explaining
their differences and similarities.
History is a story. It may be your story, my story, his
story, her story, the story of transportation or the
story of a community. For example, the history of a
community is made up of the stories of all the
people and families who have lived in that
community. Different people will have different
experiences, so the stories about an experience
within the same community may vary.
History describes or traces what happens over a period of time. It describes
change. History is always being made. It is being made by each of us (every
individual) at all times. History started when the world began and history will
end when the world ends.
History tells us about life many years before we
were born and how individuals survived from one
generation to another. History also teaches us how
to survive disasters, for example history teaches us
how to build houses and how to plan so that we can
exist through hurricanes and other disasters.
Donkey cart - 1800s Horse and buggy - 1900s

Car - 1920s Car - 2000s

● Write a short paragraph entitled ‘The History of Transportation’
based on interviews with your relatives and your research on
the internet.

● Describe FIVE differences between the donkey cart of the

1800s and the modern motor car, and the ways in which
modern infrastructural developments facilitate the movement of
cars today.

● Explain why some people drive luxury cars, others drive

modest cars, some take the bus, while others walk or ride
bicycles.
History is the collection and
recording of selected facts and
events with an interpretation of
their causes and effects.
● You have to write a report about your school’s track
team. What methods would you use to collect the
information and how would you present this
information to your classmates?

● Identify ONE fact about the performance of a

Jamaican sports team in national and/or regional
competitions and give TWO reasons why you consider
this fact significant.
History has been described as a
written narrative making up a
continuous methodical record, in
order of time, of important or public
events. This may include the
everyday experiences of people in
the society.
History also comprises the oral traditions of men,
women and children and experiences in their daily
lives as handed down from one generation to
another, particularly in societies where there is no
writing. Oral means uttered by mouth of spoken by
mouth, i.e. the spoken word. Where oral traditions
are used, it means experiences are handed down
from one generation to another by word of mouth.
An example of this is when a parent describes his
or her life experiences to his or her child or
children
History may also be recorded as
drawings on the walls of caves,
i.e. petroglyphs.
Since history is collected through a
variety of sources, it can be
organized in a particular manner.
History is collected in a systematic
manner, under specific headings and
representing specific time periods.
©Herztorian
❦