Using films in the development of historical consciousness: Research, theory and teacher practice

In the digitally reliant twenty-first century, the exclusivity of printed sources for investigating and interpreting the past has been eroded, and other modes of historical interpretations, such as film, virtual reality simulations and online museums, have found a growing audience and influence. History education has followed suit in Australia, with a range of multimodal sources commonly featured in history teaching programmes (Donnelly, 2018). Film has become an increasingly popular choice as teachers strive to engage a student population accustomed to multimodality, and with technological upgrades facilitating viewings in learning spaces (Donnelly, 2014a). Using data from history teacher practice studies, this paper argues that films have the potential to impact historical consciousness, and proposes a model of the pedagogical mechanisms at work in these instances. Implementation strategies and practices are further illustrated by reference to two teaching protocol exemplars, the weekly plans of which are included in the paper.