Background
Through Local History children can readily acquire and practice historical research skills, they can become familiar with, and learn to value, the local environment and they can learn to appreciate the elements of the past which have given them and their locality a sense of identity.
The children’s material within this unit traces the history of transport in Leixlip, Co. Kildare. Using this study will support the curriculum requirement that pupils develop an interest and curiosity about their past. Pupils will become aware of the lives of women, men and children in the past and how people and events have had an impact upon each other. The activities will help develop an understanding of the concepts of change and continuity. The images in the unit will allow the child to encounter and use historical evidence about Leixlip. There are opportunities for the child to communicate historical findings in a variety of ways. The pupil will be helped to recognise and examine the influences of the past on the attitudes and behaviour of people today and encouraged to recognise how past and present events may be come historically significant. The activities outlined can be used as a framework for a study of transport in any locality. This unit sets out to meet the objectives of the primary school curriculum.