Helping A-level students to uncover the processes of claim construction that underpin different interpretations

Holly Hiscox was concerned that many of her A-level students – asked to evaluate three different historical interpretations for their non-examined assessment task – still tended to hold unhelpful misconceptions about the nature of interpretations. In this article she explains how she created an introductory scheme of work to help them understand more about the theoretical and methodological decisions that shape and constrain historians’ work, and the role of the disciplinary community in validating new interpretations. Although Hiscox was fortunate in being able to invite three historians into school to explain their processes, the article shows how the use of recorded or transcribed interviews, alongside careful examination of book covers and peer reviews, could make the mechanics of claim construction much more visible to all students...