What actually works when it comes to creative history teaching?

In this episode of Hey History Teacher, we go inside real classrooms to find out - from songs and dress-ups to protest reenactments, and even stomping on a cardboard box.

You’ll hear from experienced primary and secondary school teachers across Australia sharing practical, classroom-tested ideas that bring history to life, like:

using songs to help students remember complex content
sharing a colour-coded Scope and Sequence so students can see what’s coming and stay motivated, and
simple, low-prep activities.

We ask:

What does the research say about creativity and learning?
How do you balance creativity with curriculum demands?
And where do you start if you’re short on time?

You’ll hear how creativity helps students:

remember complex content
engage more deeply with difficult histories
and connect emotionally with the past

If you’ve ever wondered whether creative teaching is “worth it”, or how to be more creative in class, this episode is for you.

Resources, Scope and Sequence, and tipsheet

Teach like a pirate by Dave Burgess
Tom Appleby, Convict Boy by Jackie French
Nanberry: Black Brother White by Jackie French
Chad Cary’s colour-coded Scope and Sequence Word doc (in Teacher Downloads)
Free professional development tipsheet for this episode (in Teacher Downloads)

Lyrics of Chad Cary’s Ancient Rome song to the Brady Bunch theme song

It's the story of a man named Cato who was being such a big pain in the butts.

He was blocking legislation, with the Optimates, which made the Triumviirs sad.

It's the story of a man named Caesar who was rising up through the political ranks.

He wanted a triumph and to run for Consul. But he could not do both.

Until one day when Caesar called Pompey and Crassus.

And said, "Hey boys, we should all team up!

If we decide to pool our resources together."

That's the way that they became the First Triumvirate.

First Tri um vir ate.......... Tri um vir ate.....

That's the way that they became the first Triumvirate!

Research mentioned in this episode

‍Cole, B., Mooney, M., & Power, A. (2013). Imagination, creativity and intellectual quality. In G. Munns, W. Sawyer, & B. Cole (Eds.), Exemplary teachers of students in poverty (pp. 123-135). Routledge. In Golledge,C . (2026) Inside the History Classroom: Portraits of Exemplary Teaching Practice Routledge.

Manaf, Abdul & Dewanti, Sintha & Mam, Socheath & Susetyawati, Endang & Ernawati, Ika. (2022). Is there a correlation between creativity and learning achievement? A meta-analysis study. REID (Research and Evaluation in Education). 8. 78-89. 10.21831/reid.v8i1.51493.

Baartman LKJ and Prins FJ (2018) Transparency or Stimulating Meaningfulness and Self-Regulation? A Case Study About a Programmatic Approach to Transparency of Assessment Criteria. Front. Educ. 3:104. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00104

Voices

Educators: Chad Cary (New South Wales), Catherine Baron (Western Australia), David Boon (Tasmania), Christine Abadier (New South Wales), Paul Foley (South Australia), Natalie Fong (Queensland), and Megan Tucker (South Australia).

Host: Professor Anna Clark

Credits

Hey History Teacher! is supported by the History Teachers Association of NSW.
Executive Producer is Professor Anna Clark.
Producer is Jane Curtis at UTS Impact Studios.
Sound engineering by John Jacobs.
Made on Gadigal Country in Sydney Australia.