The enquiry now reached its focus on interpretations by asking the question: ‘What makes the start of Michael Winterbottom's film, Jude, so powerful?" The group were shown the opening minute of the film three times, and asked to discuss a different question on the film after each showing, as in the following pro-forma: Download Riley_resource_2 (attached below)

It was noted that the filmmaker used black-and-white film, muted sound, mist rolling across a lonely child in an empty landscape, and other details intended to evoke atmosphere. Dr. Riley led the discussion on sub-questions, asking: "How does the interpretation compare with the source? How typical was it that children worked alone? What does light work mean?" etc. He stressed the importance of building children's knowledge about Victorian child labour in the countryside before analysing an interpretation itself.

He defined Interpretations of History in a school context as being:

‘When the main focus of children's work is on how people in later times have reconstructed and presented the past.'

Interpretations can fall into some of the following categories:

Academic
Books & Journals by professional historians
Excavation reports
Lectures

Fictional
Novels
Feature films
TV drama /comedy

Educational
Textbooks
Museums & Sites
Reconstructions
TV documentaries / News
CD-roms / Websites

Popular
Folk wisdom / Personal reflection
Theme parks / Souvenirs
Monuments / Ceremonies / Protests
Magazines / Newspapers
Advertising.

He stressed that strong enquiry planning on interpretations concentrates on the way they have been constructed. He displayed the following table as examples of stronger and weaker approaches:

Light or Non-existent Interpretation focus Strong Interpretation focus Pupils construct their own interpretations (e.g. ‘Cromwell - Hero or Villain?'

Pupils compare, contrast, discuss how / why their own interpretations differ

Pupils use contemporay sources

Pupils consider how the availability of sources has shaped an interpretation

Pupils identify errors & inaccuracies in TV's Blackadder

Pupils consider why the makers of Blackadder chose to include inaccuracies