Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.

Sally Burnham shares her practice and reflections on the value of the software, ‘Movie Maker', for developing particular aspects of historical thinking and learning. In Teaching History 130, in the context of her Key Stage 3 work on the Mughal Empire, Rozalind Stirzaker advanced a case for Movie Maker in developing specifically historical objectives. Burnham echoes aspects of Stirzaker's work, but also develops a new case. Pupils may not be able to use Movie Maker in their GCSE exams, but Burnham argues that it nonetheless has a distinctive role to play in dealing with stubborn weaknesses that seem to impede students' ability to ‘explain' in the sense demanded by GCSE papers. The examination relevance is only one useful byproduct, however, as Burnham suggests that making films may have a peculiar value in creating a new readiness in students to reflect, self-edit and self-monitor...