Master of Education in Art & Design
Ellen Harrington O’ Shea
The Visual as a Thinking Tool: Developing Students Critical Thinking Skills Through Film.
The moving image is the rising language of this century. It can educate and inform as well as entertain. It is imperative that the skills needed to read and critically evaluate moving images should become an integral part of learners learning experience in school, as it is not alone a purely artistic pursuit but is a powerful tool to enhance the literacy of the learners, so necessary for them to function successfully as citizens of the twenty-first century.
This action research project set out to pilot a short course for the new Junior cycle framework. The research question that guided the project was to determine to what extent film education within the art curriculum could promote critical and analytical skills necessary to be able to decode (read) and produce (write) in the new language of the moving image. The students were guided and encouraged to develop and produce coherent narratives using the visual language of film, while simultaneously reinforcing their analytical and critical thinking skills. These short films were created using tablet devices.
Supported by the inherent visual literacy skills and active learning methodology of the art curriculum, the process of filmmaking found a natural home. The enthusiasm and engagement of the students for this moving image medium was harnessed to emphasise and embed these HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) by integrating them into the three stages of film production, as well as a trip to Kerry Film Festival. These ‘digital natives’ actively embraced and understood the importance of becoming active critical and analytical observers and not passive onlookers. The resulting data for this action research project revealed very positive gains in students’ ability to engage in, apply and transfer these vital twenty-first century skills.