This mixed-methods study explored the impact of cinematic virtual reality (CVR) on seventh-grade students (n = 66) in a school library. The research was comprised of two phases, integrating data from questionnaires and student/teacher interviews. The study focused on "The Displaced," a documentary about child refugees, presented in two…

Empathy is a key contributor to moral, pro-social behaviour and an important element of socio-emotional learning (SEL). Schools deliver SEL programmes during adolescence to develop a range of skills including empathy. As education becomes increasingly digital, more research is needed to understand the role digital technologies may play in…

The COVID-19 global pandemic forced teachers and schools to rethink everything about the educational process. They were left in their own homes to face the challenges of binary pandemics: healthcare and racial injustice, and the need for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy became as important as ever. This article provides a view into the lives of…

Intercultural communication plays a crucial role in second language (L2) acquisition as it always happens in the context of another, usually very different culture. The present study sheds light on the benefits of using documentary videos in teaching intercultural communication to young students and how they can affect students' development of…

This research aimed to present reasons and solutions that soon-to-graduate preservice social studies teachers expressed in relation to middle school students' low level of historical literacy as reported in the literature. To this end, we used a basic qualitative research design. The sample consisted of 30 soon-to-graduate preservice teachers (17…

This article describes how preservice teachers (and one inservice teacher) gained content knowledge and pedagogical skills through reading a documentary novel, a genre that combines fictional storytelling with historical primary sources. Preservice teachers read the novel as a required text in a site-based undergraduate course focused on…

Middle school students learned about their community when they created documentaries as part of a state bicentennial celebration. Students gathered multiple primary and secondary resources and worked with community members to interview them for their perspectives through video presentations as part of the inquiry process. Students work with local…

Using cross-grade peer mentoring as an integral component to field trip experiences can help educators realize the learning potential of nature-based experiences. When young students are paired with older students, Socratic peer dialogue deepens interest, investment, and ultimately ownership of new learning. Using peer-supported inquiry…

Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools is an organization of primarily middle school youth that formed after Hurricane Katrina destroyed most of the city's schools. This chapter describes Rethink's first six years of operation, which culminated in school system policy changes and an HBO documentary about the organization's groundbreaking work.

Background: Highly processed foods are inexpensive and abundant in our food supply, nutritionally poor, and disproportionately marketed to minority youth. This study is part of a curriculum development project to develop, implement, and evaluate the "In Defense of Food" (IDOF) curriculum designed to increase intake of whole/minimally…

The growing and pervasive presence of technology and media in the lives of children reveals the need for incorporating critical media literacy instruction into the official curriculum of schools. The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was to examine how American middle school girls experience the documentary film "Girl Rising."…

This paper illustrates how ethnographic video was used as part of a diversity education project at a public urban middle school in Los Angeles, California in the United States. The goal of this article is twofold: first, it is to describe one way in which ethnographic video can be used as a pedagogical tool in primary and secondary school…

This article analyzes data from a summer literacy program for intermediate and middle-level children of migrant farmworkers. The program was grounded in a sociocultural perspective on literacy, stressing the importance of interaction and collaboration within socioculturally responsive pedagogy, using enabling literature to empower students.…

Preconceptions are a crucial factor in the educational learning process. Hence, the investigation of preconceptions is important for learning and teaching in the field of geography. This study examines the preconceptions of 12- and 13-year-old students, regarding the major environmental problem of "desertification." The students'…

The RE4MUL8 Project involved the creation of an online/mobile resource for Intermediate Division (Grade 7 and 8) teachers of mathematics. This resource showcases video documentaries of seven key mathematics topic lessons (fractions, integers, proportional reasoning, composite shapes and solids, solving equations, and, patterning and algebraic…