Last week we looked at moving image education, what it is and how it can be used in the primary classroom. According to creative scotland (2009) "Moving Image Education is about helping our young people to question, analyse, explore and understand meaning of what they are watching and hearing." Through further reading I have discovered that Moving Image Education includes learning through films, cartoons and adverts. We discussed how influential TV, films and cartoons can be to children during an RME input this week and many of us think that media can be more influential than a childs home life in certain cases. This can sometimes have a negative impact as some programs on tv bring up issues such as racism, sexuality and culture. I do believe however that using Moving Image Education can also have a positive impact on a child. It can be used to develop a childs understanding of every day situations, giving opportunities for discussion about what they see an hear and to open up new ideas. Coming back to my point earlier about race and sexuality, Moving Image Education could be used to educate children, and give them an understanding of the complexity of these issues. I think allowing children to make short films or animations also develops a childs understanding of moving images whilst giving children the ability to express themselves.
The diagrams show the '3Cs' of media literacy: Cultural, Creative and Critical. Through these children should be able to analyse, create, explore and appreciate moving images. Many people believe that the 3C's are "overlapping parts of a whole" with each aspect "enriching and supporting the development of the other aspects" (Creative Scotland, 2009) instead of separating learning activities. These ideas are at the heart of moving image education.
The Scottish Executive (2006) also support the use of Moving Image Education and links it to Curriculum for excellence. Their document on Moving Image Education argues that by teaching moving image education children are able to select features of a moving image text, learning vocabulary for it and then using what they have learned and put it into practice by making their own moving images, using technology such as cameras, iPods and digital blue. This can then be used as a context for learning, incorporating different curricular areas giving breadth and depth of learning. It also makes the learning relevant as children can link their learning to make it relevant to the context and often every day life. Relevand, Breadth and Depth are 3 of the main principles of Curriculum for Excellence. Moving Image Education can also be linked to the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence. The document suggests that through using Moving Image Education children become successful learners as they are able
to use the appropriate technology efficiently and effectively.
Mairi Flood, one of Scottish Screens practitioners, gives examples of how Moving Image Education could be used in the early years classroom. One of these is 'A mermaids bedroom' where the class design and make puppets from their favourite TV characters, built a puppet theatre and make the backdrops. Children also brought in puppets from home. The teacher created a context which resulted in a search for lost puppets, which subsequently found on a desert island. Within this context the children also made 'LOST' posters, wrote postcards and created an island within the classroom.
Having had the opportunity to reflect on this, I believe that by using Moving Image Education children will be motivated to learn. The majority of children will watch TV on a regular basis, or go to the cinema to see a film, so on this basis I think it is also something children relate to and is relevant to them. There are, as I mentioned earlier, some problems that may arise from using certain films and TV programs therefore the choice of moving image text is important. I think it may be challenging to find films etc that the children are interested in that are also relevant to what you are wanting them to learn about. I have used Moving Image Education on placement and found it challenging, but I hope with a little more practice, I will be able to use it more effectively.
References
Creative Scotland and D fi foe. (2009) Moving Image Education. Available: http://www.movingimageeducation.org/ [Accessed 30/01/12]
Scottish Government (2009) Curriculum for Excellence: Principles for Curriculum Design. Available:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/understandingthecurriculum/howisthecurriculumstructured/principles/index.asp [Accessed 29/01/12]
This is a well-structured post that provided the reader with a clear picture of what MIE is. Well done.
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