Area: Film

Philosophy of Emotion

Poster for movie Alike - cartoon image of yellow child and blue adult

Stimulus: Play the short film ‘Alike’ (found in the Video Tab above) as the stimulus for the lesson Sharing: Generate concepts/questions/ideas that come from the film. These can be anything at this stage. They might include: why did they change colours? It was about feeling sad. It was about how bad school is. Younger children Philosophy of Emotion

Philosophy of Kindness

kindness

Introduction: Have students draw up a page with two columns. Title one side ‘kind’ and the other side ‘unkind’. Get them to list actions or behaviours that they have done themselves, had done to them, or witnessed being done to others into each column. This introduction gets them working on their prior knowledge of the Philosophy of Kindness

Water Walk by John Cage

Water Walk by John Cage Whole Sequence Breakdown: Welcome and warm-up (c. 5-10 minutes) Brief introduction to John cage and Water Walk  (5 minutes) Viewing to Water Walk (without giving away the “secret”) (5 minutes) Small group discussions (c. 10-15 minutes) Whole-group share and discussion (20 minutes) Possible extensions (for extra time, or additional lessons) Water Walk by John Cage

The Present

This lesson can be used either in a classroom or online. Plot Summary: In this short film, a child is sitting inside on a sunny day playing video games. Their mother comes home with a box and suggests they stop playing video games and open the present. Inside the box is a wiggly, excited, and The Present

Baboon on the Moon

Baboon and the Moon still

This lesson plan can be used either in a classroom or online. Plot Summary: This six-minute film is about a baboon who lives alone on the Moon. Wordless and moving, the video portrays the baboon as full of longing for the Earth, struggling with feelings of sadness and loneliness. Looking wistfully out at Earth, he Baboon on the Moon

Personal Identity in Memento

Personal Identity I ask students to bring their baby or early childhood pictures to class. After they try matching names with images of their classmates, I ask a question about their own picture: Are you the same person today that you were at the moment captured in your photo? Students readily admit that their physical Personal Identity in Memento

Crash: An Ethical Obstacle Course

Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, weaves together the lives of several characters from multiple backgrounds who collide in the busy, often chaotic city of Los Angeles.  The movie revolves around a dozen or so characters from various ethnic, racial, and cultural background whose lives entwine and entangle, often with unpleasant consequences.  In the film, racism and Crash: An Ethical Obstacle Course