The invention of photography
I can explain what photography is and why historians find it interesting.
The invention of photography
I can explain what photography is and why historians find it interesting.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Photography is the process of capturing an image using a camera.
- This process produces a photograph, a picture of whatever the camera was pointed at.
- Photography is quite a recent invention, and has only been used for about 200 years.
- Photographs are interesting to historians because they have captured ways of life that have now disappeared.
Keywords
Photography - photography is the process of taking a photograph
Photograph - a picture made using a camera
Camera - a camera is a device used for taking photographs
Historian - an historian is someone who studies and writes about the past
Common misconception
Pupils may assume that people have always been able to take photographs.
Explain that photography was invented 200 years ago and, before that, photographs did not exist. People would have drawn or painted to record what they could see in front of them.
To help you plan your year 1 history lesson on: The invention of photography, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 1 history lesson on: The invention of photography, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 history lessons from the Photographs from history: what can they tell us about Britain's recent past? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
something you have had for a long time or has existed for a long time
something you have just been given, just bought or just made
the past
the present
the future
Exit quiz
6 Questions
the process of taking a photograph
a picture created with a camera
a device used to take a photograph
someone who studies and writes about the past