More Than "Showing What Happened": Exploring the Potential of Teaching History with Film

In a world where students and the general public are likely to access historical information from a television program, film, or even video game, it is important to equip students with the ability to view historical representation critically. In this essay we present arguments for using film to engage students in rigorous and authentic social studies pedagogy and support these arguments with data and examples from our research over the past ten years. Our goal is not to promote film as the ultimate classroom source or as a replacement for a teacher, but to highlight how effective the use of film can be in engaging students in authentic intellectual work with important content and issues. If we have learned anything from our research on using film to teach about the past, it is that it is important to have a clear purpose for selecting a film, both justifying the use of time and presenting the perspective that the teacher wants to portray. ********** In school districts across the country, films are being restricted or even banished from the social studies classroom. In one Connecticut town, the Board of Education banned the use of all R-rated feature films in high school social studies classes in reaction to a parent complaint about a teacher's showing of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Films are not the only media on the mob's pitchfork (or blog) as a group of parents in the same town urged the board to remove Mark Twain's book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well from the schoolhouse doors. The board eventually relented in favor of the teachers on both issues, although under the caveat that all R-rated films were subject to board approval. Seizing on the learning opportunity created by the racially-charged controversy that surrounded Huckleberry Finn, a teacher in the district showed The Jazz Singer (1927) as well as clips from more modern films such as Norbit (2007) and Soul Man (1986) to discuss blackface and racial stereotyping. Despite obstacles, this teacher thoughtfully and effectively used film to challenge his students to face a critical and important historical and contemporary issue in his social studies classroom. Over the last decade, we have found innumerable examples of social studies teachers' use of film, such as in the Connecticut town described above, that engage students in thoughtful and critical exploration of past and contemporary social or political issues. These examples of practice where film is used as part of critical inquiry and complex intellectual work provide evidence for why film should be used in the social studies classroom but in ways that go beyond the stereotypical philosophy of showing film-with little preview or follow-up-that often leads to the aforementioned scrutiny of teacher use of film. These practices also highlight the development of the critical and media literacy skills necessary for 21st century citizens. Should Films be Viewed in the High School Classroom? Should film even be used given the numerous issues in the high school classroom, such as the possibility of controversy, the view of films used as "babysitters," or the lack of students' critical viewing skills? Although praxis with film has often been critiqued, one of the strongest arguments for using film in the classroom is that film and similar media serve a larger role as historical sources for the public at large. We now know that many people outside of the classroom are not learning about history from reading books or from engaging in primary source research; instead, they are learning what they know about the past from engaging with media such as film, web based media, or video games (Rosenstone, 1995, 2006; Seixas, 1994). The impact of the heightened role of film as a source of history in society is illustrated in Wineburg, Mosborg, Porat, and Duncan's (2007) study that examines how people learn about history, in their case the history of the Vietnam War. …