Abstract:

Traditional classroom teaching methodology does not adjust to the current necessities of the students, however long presentations, quantitative evaluation and rote learning still dominate in the classroom, which limits the student to retain and repeat information provided by the teacher. A change in the education system becomes necessary. This change has to be based on the interaction between the equals, the contextualization and collaborative work, where teaching contents would have an applied approach with a student as a centre of the learning-teaching process and based on the qualitative and formative assessment system.

Talking about science in the cinema, there could be an error to distract from the objective. It is true that during several decades the movies had been reproducing again and again the stereotype of a crazy and eccentric scientist, or of a villain who will do anything to achieve his aims. However, this paper does not refer to this type of films. It is about taking advantage of audio-visual media and the image of scenes for the introduction of scientific concepts or problems.

It is known that the information received through visual experiences which are significant to the students, meaning that the student gives them a special personal values, is much more efficient than the information received in the masterclass where the teacher exposes the knowledge in oral and less dynamic form. For this reason, this paper aims at connecting students’ emotions with explained material and increasing performance in science subjects, improving qualifications and obtaining major motivation.

For implementing this proposal, the contents of the subject Physics and Chemistry of the 3rd year of compulsory secondary education were broken down, where appeared the concepts that can be introduced in the classroom with a help of animations. Moreover, a list of problems was presented, that allows students to discover the importance of the explained scientific contents and interrelate them to famous movies. It is a multidisciplinary project as it works in cooperation with such subject as Language and Literature and Plastic, Visual and Artistic Education. The work pretends to lay the foundations so that any teacher could apply this methodology, collection activities and assessment exercises based on the learning standards of the curriculum of secondary education, adding a temporization so that it can be used with success during the study period.

This methodology is ideal for spreading scientific knowledge, as well as for studying different research fields that provide a perfect excuse for explaining, understanding and unravelling myths and realities of the science in the cinema. Furthermore, the possibility of creating their own scientific short film and performing in the laboratory experiments done previously by the famous characters increases the inclusion of new technologies in the classroom and the application of scientific method in the teaching process. It is a tool that is useful for the teachers and is accessible in the twenty-first century that has been used successfully during several years in different educational centres in the Community of Madrid.

Keywords:

Science, cinema, physics and chemistry, compulsory secondary education, active methodologies.