Background: Autism and Williams syndrome (WS) are neuro-developmental disorders associated with distinct social phenotypes. While individuals with autism show a lack of interest in socially important cues, individuals with WS often show increased interest in socially relevant information. Methods: The current eye-tracking study explores how…

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2009 annual lists of Fabulous Films for Young Adults and Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults ages 12 to 18. This article presents the titles that were released in January 2009 during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver,…

The notion of "multiliteracies" and the development and creation of multimodal texts within classrooms is of pedagogic interest in this age of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). The case study reported herein provides an analysis of how one teacher engaged her class of primary school students as they responded to the challenge of…

A vastly influential form of film-making seen by millions of people, educational films provide a catalog of twentieth century preoccupations and values. As a medium of instruction and guidance, they held a powerful cultural position, producing knowledge both inside and outside the classroom. This is the first collection of essays to address this…

The shortfall of young people, particularly women, in the field of Science, Mathematics and Engineering (SME) has been shown in many national studies. Schreiner and Sjoberg (2007) indicated that boys outnumber girls in physics and engineering studies, while the gender balance is shifted towards the girls in studies including medicine, veterinary…

In Turkey, one of the major challenges that university education faces is the indifference of young people towards social issues. The aim of this article is to contribute to the "practice" of critical pedagogy by proposing that showing movies is an important critical teaching method with the power both to give pleasure to the students…

This article describes some of the findings of an evaluation of a "cross-curricular" digital media arts project for Year 8 students at Lister Community School in the London Borough of Newham. The project was designed to provide opportunities for a thematic curriculum in which quality learning encompassing both independent and collaborative…

Some researchers claim that animations may hinder students' meaningful learning or evoke misunderstandings. In order to examine these assertions, our study investigated the effect of animated movies on students' learning outcomes and motivation to learn. Applying the quantitative methodology, two pre- and post-questionnaires were administered:…

From 1895, the traditional date for the birth of cinema as everybody knows it (that is, the projection of celluloid, in public space, for money--a racket first stumbled upon by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in the basement of the Grand Cafe in Paris), until now, the 35mm photographic image has been the preferred canvas for motion-picture art. Through…

The purpose of this article is to persuade legal studies teachers of the benefits of using works from other disciplines to illustrate the rationales for law, the greater context in which the legal order operates, and the relationship between law and society. The tangential benefits of using works from other disciplines are the enhancement of the…

Pre-service teachers around the world face a unique challenge: bridging the gap between traditional teaching focused on grammar translation and receptive skills, and communicative teaching aimed at well-rounded communication skills. Many new EFL teachers learned English in a traditional context that emphasized memorization and grammar, but after…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how some ways of making sense of the world get privileged over others when teachers and students use specific educational films in specific learning environments. The methods of formalist and ideological film analysis are used to describe how educational films are distinct in their form and style from…

This book describes the various aspects of the film industry and the many jobs related to filmmaking, stressing that no "formula" exists for finding a successful career in the film industry. Chapters provide information on production, writing for film, cinematography, editing, music, sound, animation and graphics, acting and modeling, the "unsung…

A set of guidelines for evaluating films before purchase is provided in this revised manual. Included are sections on how to form an evaluation committee, schedule a screening, write a synopsis, judge the potential uses and audience, and assess technical quality. An evaluation form is provided and its uses explained. A special section demonstrates…

"The Path" is a film of a Japanese tea ritual, and the first reaction of most viewers is a sense of the anxiety and frustration of being submerged in a culture which one does not understand. This companion paper, together with repeated viewings and discussions, is designed to foster understanding of Japanese culture, particularly psychology and…