JFK in the Classroom

Sturma, M. and MacCallum, J. (2000) JFK in the Classroom. The Social Studies, 91 (3). pp. 101-109.

Abstract

Feature films have long been part of the curriculum for history courses at some high schools and universities. Researchers have generally assumed that movies help stimulate and motivate student learning (e.g., Considine 1989, 230 and 233; Rebhorn 1988, 1; Romiszowski 1974, 194), but because of their visual and emotive power, films also have potential to distort learning. In this article, we focus on the way one feature film, Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991), was incorporated into a twentieth-century American history course and examine the film’s effect on students’ learning and critical thinking. Our comments on this film result from a larger research study on student learning that involved forty-six students who were enrolled in a one-semester course at Murdoch University and who agreed to participate in questionnaires and interviews.