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Teaching Methods (13)

  • Bing Bang Boom
    Bing Bang Boom
    Joan Henson 1969 24 min
    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.
  • Black History Month 2015 Virtual Classroom: The Power of Mentoring, Diversity and Dreaming Big
    Black History Month 2015 Virtual Classroom: The Power of Mentoring, Diversity and Dreaming Big
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    Dan Thornhill 2015 1 h 3 min
    On February 19, 2015, the NFB, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Heritage Toronto connected students from across Canada with four talented Black professionals for a one-of-a-kind virtual conversation. Streamed live from the Daniels Spectrum auditorium in the multicultural neighbourhood of Regent Park, Toronto, the virtual classroom explored the topic of achieving one’s career goals while giving back to the community. Featuring: TV anchor and three-time Olympian Rosey Edeh; Dr. Catherine Chandler-Crichlow, Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence in Financial Services Education; Layth Gafoor, sports and entertainment lawyer; and Dr. Teela Johnson, resident in family medicine. Discussion moderated by poet, playwright, and professor Dr. George Elliott Clarke. Special performances by Thompson Egbo-Egbo, Shawn Byfield, and Sean Mauricette, a.k.a. Subliminal.
  • Cree Way
    Cree Way
    Tony Ianzelo 1977 26 min
    This short documentary examines an innovative educational program developed by John and Gerti Murdoch to teach Cree children their language via Cree folklore, photographs, artifacts, and books that were written and printed in the community.

    Made as part of the NFB’s groundbreaking Challenge for Change series, Cree Way shows that local control of the education curriculum has a place in Indigenous communities.
  • The Child of the Future: How Might He Learn
    The Child of the Future: How Might He Learn
    Theodore Conant 1964 58 min
    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.
  • Hope Builders
    Hope Builders
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    Fernand Dansereau 2010 1 h 29 min
    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.
  • If at First
    If at First
    Gilles Gascon 1969 22 min
    In learning a language such as French or English it is certainly a matter of trying again and then again. This film, made with the cooperation of teachers and students, takes a sympathetic look at the application and perseverance required in mastering all the idiosyncracies of a foreign language. It shows the methods of a language laboratory and, most important, the value of venturing into situations where expression in the language being learned must be attempted.
  • Kindergarten
    Kindergarten
    Guy L. Coté 1962 21 min
    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.
  • Knowing to Learn
    Knowing to Learn
    Claude Jutra 1966 1 h 11 min
    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.
  • Mathematics at Your Fingertips
    Mathematics at Your Fingertips
    John Howe 1961 27 min
    In today's classrooms various new ways are being tried to put children more at ease with numbers. This film shows one such system developed by a Belgian schoolmaster, Georges Cuisenaire. He carefully designed sets of coloured sticks to help children grasp simple mathematical relationships. (Originally released under the title Numbers in Colour.)
  • Mr. Symbol Man
    Mr. Symbol Man
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    Bruce Moir  &  Bob Kingsbury 1974 49 min
    "Blissymbols" are giving children without speech a joyous new means of communication. This film tells the story of a remarkable man, Australian Charles K. Bliss, who invented a symbol language (pictographs) originally as a means of overcoming the barrier of differing languages, and then found that it has an even greater, more rewarding application when used with speech-handicapped children. This is witnessed in Toronto and Montréal, where the Blissymbols are being used.
  • Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?"
    Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?"
    Alanis Obomsawin 2009 1 h 20 min
    This feature documentary by Alanis Obomsawin is a thoughtful tribute to Norman Cornett, a McGill University professor celebrated by scores of students appreciative of his unconventional yet powerful teaching methods who was controversially dismissed from his teaching duties in 2007.
  • Summerhill
    Summerhill
    Dennis Miller 1966 27 min
    A visit to a school without fixed rules, where students study as they wish, and are their own masters. A co-educational English boarding school, Summerhill was founded by Alexander Neill a half-century ago. In the film he explains his objectives, and from the activities of the children at work and play can be seen how his methods work. School, he says, should put preparation for life ahead of learning.
  • A Search for Learning
    A Search for Learning
    Donald Shebib 1967 12 min
    A film for teachers, describing the use of the "discovery method" in teaching. All it needs is a teacher whose encouragement is natural and unobtrusive. The film shows a free environment where even the furniture can be arranged to meet the needs of a particular enquiry. Film loops and other visual media are shown being used to advantage in this method of teaching.