Tomorrow's Citizens

Education is increasingly affected by technological advance. How the changes affect the child are shown in this far-ranging study of what is new in educational theory and practice. Appearing in the film are several leading educators and innovators, including Dr. Jerome Bruner of Harvard University and host-narrator Dr. Marshall McLuhan.

This short documentary follows students from Toronto's Jesse Ketchum School as they take steps towards the greening of their schoolyard. Along the way they get how-to advice and inspiration from kids across the country; from Pauline Public School, where students raised $10,000, to Broadacres School, where a family of wild ducks found a home in their pond.

A Crack in the Pavement is a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how they can work together to 'green' their school grounds and make positive changes in their communities

This short documentary shows initiatives kids take to transform bare pavement into dream schoolyards. Some grow trees for shade, and vegetables for a food bank. Others build a greenhouse or a rooftop garden, while others yet construct a courtyard pond as an outdoor classroom and refuge for wildlife.

A Crack in the Pavement is a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how they can work together to 'green' their school grounds and make positive changes in their communities.

This short documentary focuses on one day in a kindergarten classroom. We watch the teacher encouraging children to turn their curiosity into questions and organizing group activities and play periods. Filmed at Van Horne Public School in Montreal.

At the age of 5, Hannah Taylor spotted her first homeless person in the back alleys of Winnipeg. This experience not only troubled her, but it drove her to do nothing less than change the world. The Ladybug Foundation, the charity Hannah helped establish, has raised over a million dollars to date. With her huge heart and can-do attitude, she preaches a simple message of "Share a little of what you have and always care about others." As this short documentary proves, we all have a lot to learn from Hannah's story.

This feature documentary about education explores the mid-century state of learning in the classrooms of North America. New approaches to learning and the emerging technologies that facilitate them are explored, including the new roles of the computer, tape recorder and television. Directed by Quebec cinema giant Claude Jutra (Mon Oncle Antoine), the film was produced with the collaboration of researchers studying all forms of education, from infancy to adulthood.

This short film was an experiment in using video recordings and closed circuit television to stimulate social action in a poor Montreal neighbourhood. A citizen's committee filmed people's concerns and then played back the tapes for the community. Upon recognizing their common problems, people began to talk about joint solutions. It proved an important and effective method of promoting social change.

This documentary examines the history and current reality of Toronto’s Flemingdon Park. Now a subsidized housing project, it was built in 1961 as a trendy urban utopia. A decade later it was sold, and Flemingdon became home to refugees and new immigrants. Once a model of urban planning, Flemingdon Park's flip side is a history of violence and racism that residents have fought to overcome. Yet despite challenges, the community succeeds in making people from around the world feel at home in a different kind of utopia–one where differences are celebrated and new visions are possible.

This feature documentary zooms in on a Grade 6 class in Quebec where a teacher is implementing an experimental teaching method aimed at preparing children to take up environmental challenges. Over the course of a year, Dominique Leduc’s students will learn to identify, analyze and resolve a problem that exists in their world. They also learn about the uncertainty faced by those who want change.

Filmed over a school year, this cinéma vérité documentary shows the changing face of our culturally diverse, inner-city classrooms. It tracks the progress of two 10-year-olds, Mahfuzur and Neola, as they learn about fairness, the consequences of their actions and the realities of life in Canada. Their teacher Ken Scott, having been raised in a single-parent, low-income family himself, has a deep understanding of his students' lives.

The World at 10 was produced as part of the Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel Diversity is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with CBC Newsworld.

This short 1969 documentary follows acclaimed innovator and composer R. Murray Schafer as he visits a Grade 7 music classroom to teach students that all the sounds of life are a part of music. Schafer’s provocations help these curious learners discover music without instruments or painfully learned notes and scales. Schafer encourages the students to listen to every sound around them and then transform what they hear—voices, steps, breath—into music. The fun-filled result is a convincing illustration for educators: children learn best when it’s from the inside out.