Abstract:

From its earliest pedagogical formulations in the first third of the twentieth century to current active learning methodologies, cinema has been regarded as an educational resource capable of integrating narrative, emotion, and knowledge construction. On this basis, it is now positioned as a particularly effective teaching tool for the teaching–learning process in Art History, from an interdisciplinary perspective within a stimulating educational environment.

Based on this approach, a teaching experience has been designed for implementation in forthcoming academic years in the second-year Art History course of the Degree in Fundamentals of Architecture at the Universitat Politècnica de València. The proposal is grounded in the analysis of biographical films (biopics) addressing the lives and works of artists from different historical periods, a subgenre that integrates narrative discourse and historical recreation.

The main objective of the proposal is to improve historical and contextual understanding of art through the use of biographical films. To this end, the aim is for students to identify the chronology, style and socio-cultural environment of each artist, strengthen their critical thinking by differentiating between cinematic representation and historiographical rigour, develop audiovisual competence and improve their academic argumentation skills. It also seeks to increase student motivation and engagement through active learning based on narrative and visual experience.

From a methodological point of view, the activity is carried out in groups of three students who work on a film selected from a list previously established by the teaching staff. The process involves watching the film independently and producing two separate documents: a technical file on the film and a file on the artist, which includes a photograph, biographical details, stylistic affiliation, identification of the works represented and their current location. Finally, the team makes a critical assessment of the historical accuracy of the film's narrative. This assessment is based on a comparison with academic sources, contextual accuracy, the adequate representation of works and techniques, and the identification of possible creative licences.

The main assessment tool will be an objective test of historical and artistic knowledge before and after the intervention. The assessment will be complemented by an analytical rubric of group work and a ‘scene test’ designed to measure critical thinking and audiovisual competence through the analysis of a film excerpt. The data will enable analysis of academic performance improvement and exploration of the relationship between motivation, critical analysis and contextualised learning.

The implementation of this activity is expected to significantly improve students' understanding of the artistic phenomenon, as well as increase their involvement in the learning process. These results will enable the effectiveness of biopics as an active learning strategy in university art history teaching to be evaluated.

Keywords:

Art history, educational cinema, biopic, active learning, audiovisual literacy.