Using Film in Education
Students Learn Storytelling, Writing, Character Building Via Movies
Jan 11, 2008
With the diversity of accessible multimedia content available online and off, there are more ways than ever to use film for educational purposes. “Movie schooling” can easily be incorporated into homeschooling environments, as well as in public and private schools settings.
How to Use Film in Education
From engaging storytelling that makes history pertinent and meaningful to illustrating complex scientific principles with detailed animations and contextual explanations, movies can give students more insight and understanding than lecture or textbooks alone.
Movies and films also provide an alternative way to teach children with learning disabilities or other problems, and to teach English as a second language (or other languages). The key to using movies for education is the quality of discussion and activity that follows film viewing.
Types of Film and Education Resources
Television, of course, is the most accessible of educational film resources. Cable in the Classroom brings together a wealth of educational content across all cable programming channels and coalesces them into a single directory with lesson plans and taping rights. All programming is commercial-free, and teaching material is usually provided by the participating cable networks.
Teach with Movies is a reasonably priced subscription based service that offers Movie Lesson Plans and Learning Guides to 280 movies. The guides provide educators with background, discussion questions, links to the Internet, projects, and vocabulary lists. The site also provides a comprehensive collection of six freely available indexes (others are subscription based) that cover everything from general subject matter categories to fully developed lesson plans.
What follows are just a few ways you can use movies to teach a variety of subjects.
Using Movies to Teach Writing
In the book, Reel Writing: Using Movies to Teach the Creative Writing Process [Cambria Press, 2006] author Karla Hardaway observes, “Movies are the vanguard for the most current writing trends and the reflection of the values of society. Why not use movies to draw students into the exciting world of writing and self-expression?”
In Reel Writing, teachers guide students through a variety of activities that introduce literary concepts. Students complete a viewing guide for each movie, as well as pre- and post- viewing activities, and then work on their writing individually and in groups. Each unit uses a movie to write film based character sketches, short stories, film reviews and other related writing.
Using Movies to Teach Science
Movies don’t even have to be good to be useful. In “What's Wrong with This Picture? Educating via analyses of science in movies and TV” [Science News, Vol. 166, No. 16, Oct. 16, 2004, p. 250 ], author Sid Perkins notes that some scientists and science educators are taking opportunities to use bad movie science to tease out “shreds of scientific truth hidden within the fiction and … using unredeemably inaccurate scenes as ways to attract public attention to genuine scientific concepts.”
Another great movie science resource that works from the above premise is Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics , which rates movies on the accuracy of their science, and provides a list of classroom activities and discussions that use movie physics analysis to augment and add variety to lab experiences.
Using Movies to Teach about Life – Past and Present
Movies can also be used to teach specific aspects of life and living, and to provide character education. Teach with Movies provides a Social-Emotional Learning Index of movies related to topics like sportsmanship, friendship, courage, respect or honesty.
And obviously, there is a wealth of multimedia content available across a wide range of historical topics, from documentaries to full length feature films about entire eras.
So next time you pop a movie in the DVD player, look for the lessons that can endure far beyond the last kernel of popcorn.
