Assignment: History debate

This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.

Assignment: History Debate
Create a TV-style discussion on a historical topic or event, highlighting different views about it.

Suggested techniques

You could do this by having an expert representing one point of view being interviewed, or as a panel discussion representing many different opinions.

This can be done purely as a modern studio debate, or could involve historical figures (e.g. a discussion with an early 20th century scientist on whether eugenics are justified).

Intersperse the presentation with still images and video if appropriate.

For teachers: benefits to students

• This is good for moral arguments, particularly those where historical attitudes conflict strongly with modern attitudes, as it enables the students to put themselves into that historical context.
• This can be done as a group project where the students have to reflect different points of view. If done as a solo project, the student will demonstrate that they can appreciate all sides of the issue and can present the different arguments and views clearly and accurately.
• Adding multimedia content enables the student to approach the subject in a richer way than just using written text and still images.
• Finding images and music to enhance the presentation requires detailed research.
• Providing narration builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
• Creating a multimedia presentation helps develop presentational skills and requires the student to consider what information is best presented using the different media: spoken, written, or visual.

Suitability

• Ages 14+
• Suitable for groups
• History

Downloadable resources

Click the link to download a Moviestorm movie template.

cloud.moviestorm.co.uk/Lesson_Plans/Debate.zip

Installation instructions:

Download the file and extract the zip folder to this location:

Vista, Windows 7, Macs: [Username]/Moviestorm/Movies

Windows XP: C:/Documents and Settings/[Username]/Moviestorm/Movies