Integration of Multicultural Video Strategies that Transform Entertainment into Historical Film Literacy

Abstract

According to many educators, textbooks will eventually be replaced by digital versions. Today's teachers, school administrators, and education policy makers are often digitally disconnected or at best digital immigrants, individuals who were born before the existence of digital technology and adopted it later in life. Unfortunately, when students enter most classrooms they are expected to turn off their digital devices and learn through textbooks and teacher-led discussions. This digital disconnect is counterproductive to cultivating film/video literacy, an innovative method that has been supported by the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) as a means to make learning relevant and meaningful for all students in social studies classrooms. The purpose of this study is to showcase the NCSS position through two lenses: Look closely at film and video viewing strategies currently in place in social studies classrooms and point toward viewing strategies that bring engagement and deeper thinking and responses to interact with ideas and information for all students.