Use of film to improve critical thinking

Abstract

Films are pedagogical tools which are crucial for improving critical thinking skills. The purpose of this research analyzes the influence that films have on the critical thinking skill. The participants of this research were 22 students from 7th semester at Universidad Técnica de Ambato. Also, this was a qualitative and quasi-experimental research. Furthermore, all the information was collected during three stages which were: pre-test, treatment, and post-test in 5 sessions. The pre-test contained 5 questions, and it was a test applied by the researcher and verified by experts. It was important to grade the pre-test with a rubric made by Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology at Washington State University, with a maximum possible grade of 42 points. After that, in the treatment stage, the researcher showed power point slides with information about elements of films, YouTube videos to give examples and worksheets to verify what they had learned, and of course the film “Stand by me”. At the end of the research, the researcher took the post-test which was the same as the pre-test. The average of the pre-test was of 22,4 over 42 points. Meanwhile, the post-test average was 24,4 over 42 points. Finally, the results demonstrated that students increased their critical thinking by using films and even though the sessions were not enough, with a longer period of treatment the experiment would have had a more noticeable improvement.