The Inconvenient Truth about Teaching History with Documentary Film: Strategies for Presenting Multiple Perspectives and Teaching Controversial Issues

How can teachers effectively use documentary film to teach history, and toward what goals? This article addresses these important questions by: (1) exploring what we know about secondary teachers' practices with documentary film and secondary students' beliefs about documentary film as a s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial studies (Philadelphia, Pa : 1934) Vol. 100; no. 6; pp. 279 - 284
Main Authors Marcus, Alan S., Stoddard, Jeremy D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis Group 25.11.2009
Heldref Publications
Subjects
controversial issues
Controversial Issues (Course Content)
Documentaries
documentary film
Educational Objectives
Ethics
historical perspectives
History Instruction
secondary history
Secondary School Students
Secondary School Teachers
Student Attitudes
Teaching Methods
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Summary:How can teachers effectively use documentary film to teach history, and toward what goals? This article addresses these important questions by: (1) exploring what we know about secondary teachers' practices with documentary film and secondary students' beliefs about documentary film as a source of knowledge about the past, (2) proposing a rationale for the use of documentary film that supports the goals of history education, and (3) discussing examples of documentaries that can be shown to further the rationale presented. Although there are numerous suitable purposes and methods for using documentary film, we argue that two of the most powerful and appropriate are as a way to explore multiple perspectives and as a way to teach about controversial issues.
ISSN:0037-7996
2152-405X
DOI:10.1080/00377990903283957