Teaching History Using Feature Films: Practitioner Acuity and Cognitive Neuroscientific Validation

Donnelly, Debra

doi:10.18546/herj.12.1.03

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…This encounter has a dual and simultaneous impact on the viewer: cognitive and affective. Recent developments in cognitive neuroscience have clearly demonstrated that rational thought and decision-making processes are dependent on the affective response and that these neurological systems work in concert to create a functioning entity capable of critical thinking and judgement (Donnelly, 2013). Overwhelmingly, the participants in this research project have lauded historical films as engaging and memorable, and the data strongly support the contention that this trait of film emanates from the uniting of the cognitive and the affective in the filmic encounter.…”

Section: Findings: the Synoptic Model Of Historical Film In History Esupporting

confidence: 57%

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Using films in the development of historical consciousness: Research, theory and teacher practice

Donnelly¹

2020

History Education Research Journal

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In the digitally reliant twenty-first century, the exclusivity of printed sources for investigating and interpreting the past has been eroded, and other modes of historical interpretations, such as film, virtual reality simulations and online museums, have found a growing audience and influence. History education has followed suit in Australia, with a range of multimodal sources commonly featured in history teaching programmes (Donnelly, 2018). Film has become an increasingly popular choice as teachers strive to engage a student population accustomed to multimodality, and with technological upgrades facilitating viewings in learning spaces (Donnelly, 2014a). Using data from history teacher practice studies, this paper argues that films have the potential to impact historical consciousness, and proposes a model of the pedagogical mechanisms at work in these instances. Implementation strategies and practices are further illustrated by reference to two teaching protocol exemplars, the weekly plans of which are included in the paper.

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Section: Findings: the Synoptic Model Of Historical Film In History Esupporting

confidence: 57%

“…He called it the historical imagination. The role of imagination in the learning and understanding of history is one that needs careful consideration and management, particularly when using film (Donnelly, 2013;Stoddard et al, 2017).…”

Section: Film's Impact On Historical Imagination and Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using films in the development of historical consciousness: Research, theory and teacher practice

Donnelly¹

2020

History Education Research Journal

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“…In exploring this further, I follow a strong tradition of teaching history using moving images, 13 ranging from television programmes to fiction films and historical documentaries, to attend to history's disciplinary aspects in the classroom. In seeking to address a major concern raised by Donnelly (2013) that teachers are not as comfortable interrogating moving images as they are with printed historical sources, 14 I subscribe to the suggestion advanced by de Leeuw of having digital European history and culture embedded in curricula. 15 Against this background, this study set out to explore how broadcast media can be used for educational gains.…”

Section: T H E E D U C a T I O N A L V A L U E O F A U D I O V I S U A L H E R I T A G Ementioning

confidence: 99%

History in Motion

Cutajar

2021

VIEW Journal

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The subject of this paper is the use of broadcast media content – newsreels, news reportage and non-fiction documentaries – in the history classroom. Used educationally as sources of evidence, such moving images offer students a valuable learning experience. Drawing on findings from a study involving students analysing media content in a Maltese secondary history classroom, I report how students preferred the documentary-type of broadcast content. Students demonstrated an awareness of disciplinary knowledge when analysing moving images and highlighted certain limitations. Teacher questions were key to driving the analysis forward. I place these findings within the general goal of helping students become visually literate. It is hoped that the reflections offered will help educators maximise the use of broadcast media content to promote effective learning in history and increase awareness among researchers and practitioners of television history and culture about educationally-relevant content.

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“…In an educational context influenced by technology and visual information (Donnelly, 2013), using moving-image sources in history lessons has become common practice (Haydn et al, 2015). Moving-image sources are here taken to mean broadcast images of key twentieth-and twenty-first-century historical events shown on newsreels (for example, British Pathé), broadcast on television (for example, news programmes) or featured in historical documentaries (non-fictional).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, while students bring to the classroom their own knowledge, skills and experiences of evaluating visual content (Card, 2011), a lack of critical analysis skills may compromise questioning the accuracy and trustworthiness of such images (Marcus and Stoddard, 2009). Although feature films have been used in history and social studies classrooms to develop aspects of disciplinary thinking, such as empathy (Marcus, 2005;Marcus et al, 2006;Marcus and Stoddard, 2007;Metzger and Suh, 2008), historical interpretation and the construction of history (Banham and Hall, 2003;Lang, 2002;Morgan, 2010;Seixas, 1994), and bias (Mitchell Cates, 1990), Donnelly (2013) reports that teachers are less confident investigating films as historical artefacts than with printed sources. Where non-fictional historically themed media are concerned, hardly anything is known about how historical understanding develops when students are engaged in the task of moving-image analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What aspects of historical understanding feature in the analysis of moving-image sources in the history classroom?

Cutajar

2020

HERJ

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This paper reflects on aspects of historical understanding developed in a classroom in which moving-image sources are analysed. Considered as non-fictional representations of the past, moving-image sources comprised broadcast images of historical events on newsreels, news broadcasts and documentaries. The study, carried out in a Maltese state secondary school, involved students (aged 15/16 years) analysing moving images as historical sources in their history lessons. Various aspects of understanding were identified: making connections with media content; using knowledge of one topic to shape another; discussing forms of historical knowledge in relation to each other; connecting with the wider historical picture; and constructing meaning using various language strategies. It is argued that these aspects offer a characterization of historical understanding when analysing broadcast footage of historical events in a constructivist classroom. It is suggested that underlying these aspects was students’ prior historical knowledge. I highlight the importance of maximizing on opportunities provided by moving-image sources to support understanding, particularly the co-construction of knowledge.

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Teaching History Using Feature Films: Practitioner Acuity and Cognitive Neuroscientific Validation

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Using films in the development of historical consciousness: Research, theory and teacher practice

Using films in the development of historical consciousness: Research, theory and teacher practice

History in Motion

What aspects of historical understanding feature in the analysis of moving-image sources in the history classroom?

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