New Dimensions Through Teaching Films

Duration: 12:00

Year Published: 1963

Creator: Coronet (CORT)

Complete Record: Examines the role of educational films as an integral part of the curriculum. Excerpts from more than sixty films show the uses of film at different grade levels and with different subjects. These subject include preparing children for a world of today and tomorrow with different scenarios spanning from camels in a desert, sharing breakfast with a family under a crucifix, people in Peru, a marketplace in Morocco, going to school, etc. Films can also help illustrate the past, history and different cultures including those of the “old world” with scenes involving Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, Roman reenactment, Aztec Indians, and a wide shot of a wagon train. This educational film also makes points about film covering music with a Beethoven example. It shows how films can cover art with scenes about Da Vinci and his use of hands in his paintings. There is another scene involving a Mark Twain impersonator to illustrate how films can cover literature. There are also shots of symbols of the “Space Age”: a rocket launching. Other subjects that are touched on include math and science - with animations of mathematic principles and how they relate to other aspects of life. There are scenes involving time-lapse photography with flowers opening and grasshopper movements. On the subject of science, the film demonstrates how film can cut the preparation time of experiments. There is a scene on an air pressure experiment with two glass bulbs being crushed inside a bell jar. There is a shot with an internal organ/heart display in front of a real boy to demonstrate how long this would be to set up. There are shots of X-Rays and how they can show how food is swallowed. There are shots of chemistry experiments with added illustrations to demonstrate the added bonuses of film and the dimensions it can bring to a science experiment. There are shots of reenactments of dropping balls of two different weights from the leaning Tower of Pisa. This educational film shows how film adds new dimensions to teaching and how it can compress space and time.