If you think film only works for teaching the arts – think again.
Using film in the classroom isn’t a perk reserved for English and drama. Teacher Elizabeth Evans explores how science, geography and maths students can benefit.
Using film in the classroom isn’t a perk reserved for English and drama. Teacher Elizabeth Evans explores how science, geography and maths students can benefit.
I ventured to the back of the science lab, clipboard and observation sheet in hand. A group of hyperactive year 7 students followed me, high on sugar after lunch. It was the second to last period and I couldn’t help but worry for the newly-qualified teacher (NQT) I was about to observe.
He took the register and tried to settle the class. One threw a paper clip, another put his head on the desk while his friend yawned loudly. Nervously, the teacher spoke: “Everyone focus on the images on the board. As you watch, work out what we are going to be learning about today.” The teacher dimmed the lights and carefully chosen, short but shocking clips from An Inconvenient Truth lit up the classroom. The room fell silent and heads rose from desks. The students had to write down a learning question based on the emotive images they had seen. “All learners now on task and engaged,” I wrote.
Once traditionally associated with subjects such as English and drama, now more subjects are experimenting with film in the classroom, with striking results. In my science observation, students were learning with pace, discussing how the images made them feel. “Sir, it’s like The Day After Tomorrow, only worse,” one student declared. Using his prompt card, the NQT pushed the student to explain what he meant. A rich and varied discussion took place among these usually not-so-confident learners.
An East Midlands-based study exploring the benefits of film in education found 100% of teachers felt film could help reach difficult or challenging students – 80% said it had a significant impact. The NQT’s students were certainly a challenge; set five of six, 70% of the students were classed as pupil premium and over half had statements of educational need, yet all were now on task and making progress. “Because film is so universal,” says Helen Maguire, a teacher at a pupil referral unit (PRU) in Cheshire, “students can relate to the ideas without feeling out of their depth or threatened. Film combines the visual, auditory and kinesthetic with the emotions. It reaches students in a way nothing else can.”
It need not just be Hollywood blockbusters. In a recent geography lesson I observed, a teacher used films made by the students to teach erosion. Weeks earlier, the teacher had dipped into BBC class clips to introduce the topic. Using these clips as models, the students were asked to make their own short films in groups, investigating an area of erosion linked to their forthcoming field trip. Small handheld video cameras on loan from IT were used. No technological wizardry was required, but key stage 4 media studies students were there to help if needed.
The students edited their films with Movie Maker and iMovie software in the school computer suite, with IT support on hand. Weaker students used Common Craft, software that uses ready-made cut outs to create simple films – imagine animated clip art, but slicker. Saving the files on the school system meant the teacher could vet the clips (there’s always one) and access them quickly in lessons. Actively learning through completing a quiz sheet as they watched, the teacher would pause to ask more difficult questions. In a further challenge, students were given a placemat to fill with facts about erosion. Students questioned each other about their films, moving around the classroom in a mini-marketplace like activity.
Using film creatively in the classroom doesn’t need to be too time-consuming. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo give access to thousands of useful clips; Into Film offers free lesson plans, resources and a catalogue of feature films, as does the BBFC and Film Education archive. Even embedding film into interactive whiteboard (IWB) charts is now helped by software. Promethean Activ Inspire and Smart Technologies all have similar “insert link/media” tabs that let you simply cut and paste a video link or saved video file into a slide with ease.
Yvonne Bossons, a former maths teacher and engineer from Stoke-on-Trent, believes putting maths in a real world context is the key to unlocking some of its more challenging concepts. “The film Senna would be fantastic for introducing students to the maths behind mechanics, or Enigma to teach number sequencing and patterning.” Teachers could perhaps design tasks where students work out speed, distance and time based on popular sports-based videos – anything from London 2012 highlights to Cool Runnings could be used. Designing tasks around the recognition of number patterns to crack codes and make up new ones could get students thinking about how maths could be used in encrypting, securing or spying. At the same time as learning new concepts students are also seeing the important role maths plays in society, Bossons says.
Putting a subject in context is powerful. A product design class could observe clips from Aardman animations before using claymation to make a movie trailer. ICT lessons could use clips from The Social Network to show students how the coding they use in class underpins the social media they use every day. The excellent guide Using Films in School: A Practical Guide offers a wealth of suggestions for putting subjects in context in this way.
Corinne Dunkerly, a secondary teacher in Bath, used the animated film Happy Feet to help students understand science. “I used a clip of penguins huddling together. The clip generated discussion about the reasons why penguins huddle as they struggle to survive cold winters.” The students started talking confidently about what they saw; the clip was engaging and something they could relate to. “They filled test tubes with warm water, placing them in a ‘huddle’ inside a glass beaker. Measuring the temperature drop, the students started to see the test tubes as analogies for the penguins. They analysed data and made conclusions, using existing knowledge to understand something new.”
The science lesson over, the NQT breathed a sigh of relief when his “outstanding” judgment was awarded. From science I venture over to PE where I’m observing an introduction to motivational team talks. I enter the dark classroom as Bill Pullman explodes on to the interactive whiteboard (IWB): “We will not go quietly into the night...”
