Teaching with Film: A Research Study of Secondary Social Studies Teachers Use of Film

Showing a film is common practice in most classrooms. However, how are secondary social studies teachers using film in the classroom? This article attempts to answer this question. Therefore, the major purpose of this study is to examine how teachers use film to teach social studies. Using survey research methodologies, a national random sample of secondary teachers from the United States was administered. In total, two hundred forty eight secondary social studies teachers from across the United States completed a twenty question likert-style survey regarding how they use film in the secondary social studies classroom. The results concluded that many teachers are not using film for optimal purposes. A full discussion of results and study limitations is included and conclusions are made.