The use of Film in Education.

The Use of Film.

In this blog post I will be discussing the use of film in education. The use of film as an educational tool includes a pupil's culture in the learning process and encourages their home identities resulting in pupils being more engaged and motivated to learn as their lived culture is being valued in the class room (Parry,2014). Children of all academic abilities can participate fully in a lesson where film is used as an educational tool as children can understand the narrative of film and apply it to new texts: perhaps more readily than with a text they have read (Parry,2014). Film education can include film analysis or the making of films. Pupils can draw on their existing experiences to develop an understanding of new concepts and skills with in the national curriculum(Parry,2014). One element of the national curriculum that film education can promote is literacy standards and communication skills.
I witnessed these skills being developed in children when creating a film with young people from ages 10-16 in a creative writing group called Bubble Slam. Between September and December 2013 myself, Zoe Jarvis and a group of eleven young individuals wrote and starred in a horror film spoof called Swansea Spookfest. The children wrote the script themselves and came up with all of the ideas. In order to do this successfully they had to use communication skills to decide what ideas to use and which ones not to, and literacy skills to write their own lines and stage directions. It also developed their confidence, and organisational skills as they had to work to a dead line and assist in directing.

Having seen first hand the positive affects the use of film can have I believe that the use of film in education is a positive pedagogical tool as it promotes aspects of the curriculum and fully engages and excites learners as well as builds their confidence.

Below is a link to the film I helped create:

References :

Parry,B (2014) 'Popular culture, participation and progression in the literacy classroom' [online] available from :http://moodle.swanseamet.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=38298 [accessed on 29/4/14]

Techniquest

As part of the module the inquiring mind:creative approaches I was required to attend Techniquest in Cardiff and comment on an exhibit I found to be the most interesting. Despite not being the most visual or exiting of exhibits having bottle rockets and hot air balloons to compete with, I found 'Orbits' to be educational and interesting as well as engaging and enjoyable.

Orbits requires you to roll a ball on to a curved table and watch as it rotates two holes in the centre of the table until it disappears down one of them. The exhibit visualises what occurs to a planet when it is in the orbit of a star or black hole. The surface of the table represents the gravitational pull and the two holes with in the table represent the black hole or star. As the ball gets closer to the hole, it feels a stronger pull and gets sucked in to the whole. This is because the ball loses energy as it spins around the table and it's orbit gets lower and lower until it drops in to a hole. It is a great demonstration of how our planet orbits the sun especially for visual kinaesthetic learners. Fortunately the earth does not lose energy as it orbits in a vacuum and thus continues to orbit the sun.

Upon experiencing the exhibits I felt it was suitable and enjoyable for any age group especially having taken a three year old boy with me who thoroughly enjoyed throwing the ball on the the table and watching it spin. However with hindsight I feel the exhibit 'Orbits' may be more relevant to children in key stage 2 (7-11 year olds) and key stage 3 (11-14) as it directly associated with 'the sustainable Earth' element of the science programme with in the national curriculum. 'The sustainable Earth' range supplies pupils with a knowledge and understanding of the earth,other planets and it's atmosphere (Welsh Assembly Government,2009).

'Orbits' helps to develop communication and thinking skills through requiring children to ask questions about the exhibit and explore the possible reasons for the ball behaving the way it does on the table with a friend,adult or peer. Both communication and thinking skills are a part of the skills frame work of the national curriculum(Welsh Assembly Government,2009).

Orbits can also help motor skill development, inter personal skills and literacy. The exhibit promotes motor skills as it involves being actively engaged in the learning and throwing the ball at an angle. Inter personal skills are evolved through sharing the exhibit with others and literacy through reading the explanation which is provided with each exhibit to understand the science theory behind it.

'Orbits' teaches specific knowledge about gravitational pulls and how the earth orbits the sun continuously. Because The Earth orbits around one star the orbit is stable,meaning that slight disturbances such as meteorites don't have an effect on the long term orbit of the Earth. However if the Earth was orbiting around two stars, the orbit would be much easier to change from an oval to an “8” shape as can be seen in the 'Orbits' exhibit. An orbit with two stars is unpredictable and chaotic while an orbit with one star is stable.

I definitely feel my physics subject knowledge has expanded as despite understanding the gravitational pull of orbits, I did not know the behaviour of an orbit with two stars or that an orbit with two stars could even exist!

I would improve the exhibit by providing more information on what is taking place on the information card, however on the whole I found it to be very interesting and would definitely go again!

"Orbits"

References:

The Welsh Assembly  Government (2009) [online] available from http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/?lang=en [accessed on 11/4/14]

The Mantle of the Expert Approach

Over the past two weeks we have been learning through The Mantle of the Expert approach which is a drama based pedagogical tool that aids inquiry and learning. The aim is for children to adopt the same kind of responsibilities,challenges and problems that an expert in a certain field may experience through imagining themselves as the experts.
Within the Mantle of the Expert approach there is an expert or an enterprise (the pupil) and a client who needs said enterprise is assistance (the teacher): the pupil must try to meet the needs of the client which are provided by the teacher. The use of an enterprise puts the learning in context which is an important pedagogical tool and promotes a hands on approach to learning.


We have been using this practice within seminars. We were provided with a job by our client (our lecturer) which we in our individual groups as 'experts' must complete.
We were to imagine ourselves as building constructors with the task of building a functional bridge in an area in Swansea. This involved creating our own enterprise in which each group member had a certain role to play. As a company, we decided what steps should be taken to complete the bridge, what materials should be used, what type of bridge would be most effective and what would look most aesthetically pleasing and be most cost effective. However before these decisions could be made we had to undergo research in order to fill the brief given by our client. 

Having experienced learning through the Mantle of the Expert approach I feel it is a engaging and enjoyable pedagogy as it effectively grasped hold of each student in the class is imagination and had a positive result. I feel it would bring out good results in children as it actively involves individuals thus benefiting the quality of learning. On the whole it is an effective and interesting teaching style.
Here are some photos:

The step's needed to be taken.

The finished model.

design of the bridge.

References:
http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/about-moe/introduction/why-work-this-way/

The outcomes of our current method of teaching science.

Uppon reading ‘Encouraging Creativity with Scientific Inquiry’ by Lloyd H. Barrow(2010) I could not help but notice a number of similarities between the outcomes of how science is taught in the USA and how science is taught in the UK.

  According to Barrow (2010) science should include critical thinking and inspire children’s creativity, however it is currently lacking these elements as experiments are short and only verify what has already been studied: these experiments use a ‘cook book’ approach. That is pupils simply follow instructions without any real understanding. This can be said of the UK’s education system as many students on this course found that they could not remember why their scientific inquiry took place, or what it showed: they simply remembered the procedure and the outcome.

    Barrow also mentions science O levels which are the American equivalent of a GCSE as consisting of the teacher guiding the pupil through the practical exam towards the expected outcome. This is the same in GCSE science practical exams; despite them being exams the teacher guides the pupils to the desired outcome.

   Pupils then, leave school with out a true understanding of the hows and why's of science, and perhaps disinterested with the subject.

  In order to encourage critical thinking  and  strengthen creativity pupils must be asked thought provoking questions and be given the opportunity to take risks in the class room with the assistance of the teacher to ensure their safety. This can be said to be further evidence that a new approach to teaching science must be found.

References

Barrow, L. H. (2010) Encouraging Creativity with Scientific Inquiry [online] available from  http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce/ [accessed on 28/2/14]

The scientific method: does it work?

This week’s lecture we looked at the scientific method.This is a process of scientific inquiry which involves eight steps:

1) Identifying a problem

2) Asking a question.

3) Making a hypothesis.

4) Designing and conducting an experiment that tests the hypothesis.

5) Data collection.

6) Analysing the results.

7) Drawing a conclusion

8) Devising solutions.

The scientific method moulds teachers and pupils perception of scientific enquiry(Braaten et al,2008) and often leads to scientific enquiry taking place within the class room without pupils having an understanding of the reasoning behind the scientific enquiry taking place (Braaten et al,2008). According to Braaten et al (2008) there are four reasons why the scientific method often fails in class rooms.

  The first cause for its failure is that questions are provided by the teachers as opposed to the pupils using their imagination to create their own questions: this can lead to content less science lessons without scientific knowledge or reasoning, unsuccessfully reflecting scientific ideas.

     Secondly is the use of controlled experiments which do not reflect the experiments which undergo in the professional world of science. Also the suggestion that a single set of experiments is an ample amount to base a conclusive finding on is unrealistic.

The third factor which has led to the occasionally ineffective use of the scientific method within class rooms is that the pupils lack a platform of knowledge on the given phenomenon on which to base their questions and hypothesis on.

   

    The final fourth element of the scientific method is that the pedagogy itself as it doesn’t promote a mind-set which questions and enquires but rather produces a linear combination of steps which are easy for a teacher to follow.

    

     Braaten et al (2008) however suggest a different method of teaching science referred to as model based inquiry which actively involves the pupils in the process of scientific enquiry and encourages them to practice creativity through questioning phenomenon for themselves(Braaten,2008). It is a four step process which involves building a platform of knowledge on a phenomenon, finding the relationships between phenomenon, deciding the best way to gather results and questioning results through having discussions with the pupils and considering their views.

   I feel the model based inquiry approach may be more effective within the class room as children learn best from being actively involved (Dewey,1910). This approach offers pupils the opportunity to explore why certain phenomenon happens as opposed to just how and thus provides them with a deeper understanding as well as developing a way of thinking with in pupils which is always questioning and exploring.

References:

Braaten,M. Thompson,J. and Windschitl,M.(2008) Beyond the scientific method: Model-Based Inquiry as a new paradigm of preference for school science investigations. [online] available from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=83bcefcd-9814-47e7-96d8-a5176f964789%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ehh&AN=34095321 [accessed on 28/2/2014]

Dewey, J. (1910) How We Think [online] available from https://archive.org/details/howwethink000838mbp [accessed on 28/2/2014]

Art and science: opposites or intertwined?

“The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin even, or even different parts of the same continuum, but rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity"

- Mae Jemison

In today's lecture we considered the reasons why art and science are considered to be extremely different from one an other. The general consensus was that science is based on facts where as art is subjective and can take many different forms. I personally feel the arts and science are intertwined. In order to become a good artist an understanding of elements,light and primary colours are required,and in order to be a successful scientist an element of creativity and abstract thinking must take place. Thus they are often closely linked.

One strong example of science and the arts being used simultaneously can be seen in Leonardo di vinci who used his artistic skills to sketch what he found as he explored the depth of autonomy(O'Hanlon,2013). The most famous sketch being Vitruvian man (1490) as can be seen below:

Many of the sketches by Da Vinci are truly inspiring and illustrate the wonderment that creativity and science can result in.

Below is a Ted video. In this video Mae Jemison - the first African American woman to go in to space - discusses the importance of the sciences and the arts being used together.Science is not simply about being logical and the arts is not only about being creative.

References:
O'Hanlon,L (2013) Science and The Arts, Intertwined throughout History [online] available from http://www.howtolearn.com/2013/09/science-and-the-arts-intertwined-throughout-history/ [accessed on 22/2/14]

Do schools kill creativity?

Today we discussed main stream education and the national curriculum is effect on creativity. Ken Robinson: who is well known for his ted talk ‘do schools kill creativity?’(2006) was mentioned as Robinson argues that school’s devalue creativity: This is not an uncommon opinion.

Lucas(2001) argues that most schools have fundamentally uncreative pedagogies and that all schools must create an environment in which creativity can thrive. Main stream education limits pupils creativity through a series of pedagogical practices (Craft,2005): such as strategies which place pupils in the role of receiving knowledge and following instructions as opposed to having control over their own learning (Craft,2005). This having been said Craft (2005) also argues that strategies which involve the pupil learning through self-lead discovery with no guidance can also prohibit a pupils creativity as well as strategies which assume the pupil will understand concepts in the same way as the teacher(Craft,2005). Lucas (2001) argues that the lack of creative pedagogies in education is a result of examinations and league tables as well as teaching methods: this is not dissimilar to Robinson’s argument. According to Murphy et al.(2004) the lack of creativity in schools risks creating individuals with shallow understanding of subject matter and the inability to transfer knowledge to new situations

  However Craft (2005) states that the use of creativity within education has risen in popularity in the past 20 years as it has been acknowledged that creativity is essential in identifying and solving problems and finding opportunities in places where they may not have been found (Craft,2005). The ability to be creative is alive in everybody and can certainly flourish then if given the opportunity(Craft,2005). Despite Craft (2005) claiming creativity has grown in popularity I feel the education system is still restricting and narrow minded in the way of creativity and knowledge. There is little opportunity for finding talents or individual strengths,instead the focus is on becoming a contributing member of society and meeting the needs of said society. There are clearly benefits from creative learning such as problem solving skills as mentioned above.

References:

Craft, A. (2005) Creativity in schools: tensions and dilemmas,London : Routledge 2005

Cropley, A. (2001)Creativity in education and learning: a guide for teachers and educators, Routledge Falmer:Oxon

 Murphy,P.,McCormick,B., Lunn,S., Davidson,M. and Jones,J.(2004) Electronics in schools, Final Evaluation Report, Executive Summary. London:the department of trade and industry/the open university