Themed editorial: Social studies research and practice special issue: effective use of films in the social studies classroom

Citation

Roberts, S.L., Nance, S., Sardone, N. and Kaka, S.J. (2024), "Themed editorial: Social studies research and practice special issue: effective use of films in the social studies classroom", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-05-2024-087

The use of films in the social studies classroom is a common approach that is often used in the K-12 social studies classroom (Marcus and Stoddard, 2007; Russell, 2012). However, given the near universal presence of inaccuracies in films, it can be reasoned that simply showing films to students without any sort of structured activity or rationale limits students’ opportunities to develop sound understanding that inaccuracies exist.

More importantly, even in those instances where students are generally informed about the inaccuracies present within a given film before or after viewing it, if not provided with opportunities to critically evaluate, reflect and engage with the content of the film directly, the exercise remains passive and generally limits the potential for deeper content understanding and skill development (Kaka, 2022; Nance, 2022; Roberts and Elfer, 2018, 2021). With this in mind, this special issue offers a variety of articles describing effective strategies for using film in the K-12 social studies classes. These articles bridge the gap between theory and practice, helping teacher educators, seasoned teachers, beginning teachers and pre-service teachers develop skills into using films in the social studies classes in an effective, structured, critical way.

In the first article, Van Harren and Stebbins adapted the Hollywood or History? framework to encourage pre-service teachers to design a lesson plan based on the television show, Molly of Denali (2019). Their lesson encourages elementary students to use source analysis and critical thinking with film use in the classroom. In the second article, Wafa and Douglass describe how Unity Productions Foundation (UPF) films, such as Prince Among Slaves (2007), can prepare teachers to see the alignment of the C3 Framework with films. In the third article, Batt and Joseph argue that examining racial projects found in contemporary sci-fi and fantasy casting in films such as The Little Mermaid (2022) provides chances for students to understand complex racial histories and how they blend into current-day cultural landscapes and provides opportunities to practice analysis of real-life racial histories and richly imagined fantasy worlds, noticing how and why the two often collide when it comes to race. In the fourth article, Kenna and Stevenson provide teachers ideas for using prominent films, such as Selma (2014), Hidden Figures (2016) and The Green Book (2018), to highlight notions of geographic mobility within the African American freedom struggle. In the fifth article, McClure, Halvorsen and Thomas III provide a research study that explores the value of sports films for engaging youth in issues related to patriotism, justice, equity and liberty. The authors analyzed the sports films, 42 and BOTS, and found both have pedagogical potential and value in secondary social studies methods class. These findings establish a solid criterion that educators can use when selecting films and/or tv series for classroom use. In the sixth article, Marcus, Griffith and Powers provide a lesson plan using the film Bridge of Spies (2015) to help students learn about the Cold War and how it has impacted US–Russian relations today. In the seventh article, Thoppil and Pandy explore the relevance of film texts in Indian social studies classrooms for students at the upper primary level. It examines how different types of visual texts can facilitate awareness, critical thinking, discussion and action. In the last article, Corrigan offers a lesson plan designed for middle- and high-school students. The inquiry-based lesson focuses on the feature film Till (2022) to help middle- and high-school students to examine citizenship and civil rights.