Charles Dickens and "The Staplehurst Rail Disaster."

A Victorian History Enquiry

What happened on the 2.38 from Folkestone on June 9th 1865?
Who was the famous man on board?

Seven schools from Ashford, Canterbury and Shepway used the videoconferencing application FlashMeeting to interview Charles Dickens about what happened on the 2.38 from Folkestone on June 9th 1865.

Using historical data (newspaper reports, letters, maps and photographs) prepared by Ian Coulson (History Advisor) the children prepared questions to ask Charles Dickens and a guard who travelled on the train. Roles played by Year 13 Students from Homewood School, Tenterden. Following the interview with an expert the children played back the recorded sessions to "piece together" why the event happened and to learn more about the distinguished gentleman travelling in "carriage ten."

The following is a report on the activity by K Planner, Petham Primary School.

To start the enquiry the children were given the question 'what happened on the 2.38 from Folkestone in 1865?' We discussed what this could mean. Then the class talked about what sources of information can be used to find out about the past.

The class was split into groups, each having a different source of information. They looked at letters, photos, death certificates, accident report and a postscript. Each group collected information from their sources that began to answer the enquiry question. Each group then shared their information with the class so the whole picture of what happened was gathered.

The year 6 children had the opportunity to visit the Guildhall museum, in Rochester to find out more details into the life of Charles Dickens. The children were videoed and sound recordings were taken. Back at school they worked as a class, then a small group, with Rob Slight to edit the recordings and make it into a short film.

The children were very enthusiastic towards the enquiry and with each bit of research they were asking further questions to research, some of these were used as questions to interview the characters used in flashmeeting.

The children enjoyed using flashmeeting and found this a good medium to further their enquiry skills, by interviewing people.

From all the information the children collected on the train disaster, the life of Charles Dickens and Ellen Ternan they have written some different types of non-fiction texts. These include biographies, letters, diaries, newspaper report and explanation texts.

Pupils used FlashMeeting to:

• Interview a famous historical character
• Interview staff from the Medway Museum Servide
• Discuss their work with children in their own and other schools
• Write a news report about the 1865 Staplehurst Train Disaster