Teaching Geography Using Films: A Proposal

Films are often used in schools to illustrate geography, but doing so may favor mainly passive learning. An experiment with twenty-eight pupils aged thirteen years (a whole class) had the aim of using cinema to promote active geographical learning. First, it was ascertained what the dominant geographical stereotypes were among the pupils and the films that conveyed these stereotypes. Then a traditional lesson using textbooks was given but this proved inefficient at removing stereotypes. More creative work was needed. Since film planning forces students to actively apply their geographical knowledge to solve technical problems (locations, screenplay, sets, etc.), making a movie was planned.