The first part of my geographical escapade will be a film that captures the students attention,
Contact
(a little girl dreams of seeing the universe, she has no mom and her dad dies at an early age, but she finds comfort in the enormousness of the stars). How many stars are in the night sky?
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Contact.
The movie was made in 1997. It is a Warner Brothers Inc. Production and the director is Robert Zemeckis. It is in color and stereo. The film is 153 minutes long. The film is rated PG.
I chose this film for several reasons: the little girl has several things in common with my students who are about her age. Her mom died during childbirth leaving her in a one parent household. My class this year are all raised by single parents or guardians. The majority of my students enjoy science. I'm not quite sure why. I would guess that it has something to do with the hands-on approach and that they work in small groups for labs. Science is a new subject that is graded for almost all of them. I would like to believe that they like it because it is tangible and they are interested in the subject because it is a part of them. Students can see their relationship to science and the relationship science has with nature.
In the movie Dr. Ellie Arroway as a young girl remembers a conversation with her dad, in which she asks him, "Do you think that there is life on other planets?" He replies, "If there isn't, it would really be a terrible waste of space."
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This section on the universe would have to be supported by other theoretical films about the beginning of the universe. In the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium, New York, there are several programs that talk about the universe. "The Big Bang" and "Celestial Highlights" are only two of their short films that captivate audiences about theories of the beginnings and why the night sky changes. Again students will become aware of: the trillions of stars, rotation of our Earth ( a 24 hour day), and a theory about the tremendous time it took the Universe to evolve. If the trip to the Hayden Planetarium is impossible we could walk to Southern Connecticut University's planetarium. In conjunction with the trip to the planetarium I would show parts of these feature films:
2001 Space Odyssey, 2010 the Year We Make Contact,
the animated feature film
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
, and end with the non-featured films
A Brief History of Time
and
The New Solar System An Epic Adventure
.
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2001 Space Odyssey
This movie was made in 1968. It is a Warner Brothers Inc. Director is Stanley Kubrick. It is in
Metrocolor
. The film is 139 minutes long. The film is rated PG.
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2010 the Year We Make Contact
This movie was made in 1984. It is a Warner Brothers Inc. Director is Peter Hyams. It is in
Metrocolor
. The film is 116 minutes long. The film is rated PG.
These films pose questions about how the universe was created, how long it took to be created, and who created the universe. The film
2001 Space Odyssey
opens with very melodramatic music and a scene of the sun, moon, and earth in alignment and nearly taking up the whole screen. The next scene begins on earth in an arid climate with a community of early man (ape-like). The time period is early man, when he did not possess the intelligence and sophistication of modern man. Something not of this earth comes and soon the early man ape evolves. His intellect expands. This is a film that questions the theory of evolution and, as theories go, is open-ended. This issue of how mankind today evolved or was created must be handled with care and caution, so that no offense is made to anyone's beliefs. This film shows another great shot of the Earth when the Discovery crew leave to go on the Jupiter mission. This film and it's sequel are still rated very highly as the best made science fiction films. If time permits you could show this film in its entirety.
In the film
2010 the Year We Make Contact
scientists make contact with the higher intelligence that has been involved with the destiny of early man and the beginning of Earth itself. A new event is going to take place in our solar system that will change our world, another sun. This film ends with our solar system becoming a binary (sun) system. In science one of the reasons life exists on Earth is that it begins from the sun. I would ask the students question what they would think a new binary system would bring to our existing solar system. Since Jupiter becomes that new sun I would ask them to look at the size of our sun now and compare it to Jupiter's size. Will this new sun have an affect on Earth? Will the new sun affect outer planets in our solar system?
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Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
This animated film was made in 2001. The film is 82 minutes long and is rated G. A young genius is forced to build interstellar ships with the help of his friends in order to rescue all the parents from alien kidnappers.
This film is fun, it really has a far fetched theme and students should be amused at the unlikelihood of events now that they realize how big the Universe is. The film could be used just to entertain, given the fact that space travel would be unlikely to truly occur in the time frame proposed.
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A Brief History of
Time. This movie was made in 1992. It is a Warner Brothers Inc. film and it was directed by Errol Morris and produced by David Hickman. It is in color. The film is 84 minutes long. The film is rated G.
In the non-feature film
A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist asks these questions about the universe: How did the world begin? and Why do we remember the past not the future? Despite near paralysis Stephen Hawking's great mind is giving new and insightful information about our cosmos. I would use this whole film because it covers one man's limited life and abilities and his investigations (scientific theory) of the Universe that is infinite. It shows an average human lifespan compared to the age of the Universe.
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The New Solar System An Epic Adventure.
Written and produced by Steve Skootsky and part of a space science series. This film is 60 minutes long. It was filmed in 1994. It has enhanced visuals combined with animation from the U.S. Space Program depicting the inner and outer planets of our solar system.
I will continue with a closer view of earth, noting its position in our solar system, its size, shape, and other attributes. The documentary non-feature film I have chosen to show is
The New Solar System An Epic Adventure
. I would have to find some non-feature, theoretical or factual films depicting our solar system. I will again always make students aware of scale. The size of the planets and the distance from the sun, while using the proper units of measurements. In order to grasp the size of the planets the students will work on the formula for diameter of a sphere in order to the find the circumference of planets. Students will become aware of what a light-year is in relationship to miles and kilometers. One light-year is equal to 5.88 million million miles or 9.46 million million kilometers.
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In lesson 1 students will be able to take the information given from the table and answer the questions involving how far apart are the planets from one another in all units (light years, miles or kilometers).
Planet Earth
When taking an even closer look at planet earth I could begin with a film that speculates on possible theories about the formation of the earth and its moon and a historical time line of the earth. Films that I would like to show are those that depict what it was like on earth millions or even billions of years ago. The plate tectonics theory shows movement, how the lands once were connected. This can be introduced through film, as well as concepts showing, how big are the land masses and the oceans. Continental drift is another theory that many films has been brought out in many children's animated films such as
Ice Age,
a great animated feature film that shows time periods (eras). Time periods will be compared to each other like the Jurassic or Crustaceous period. The documentary films I will use for this are
The Blue Planet
and
Baraka
. These two non-feature films depict the themes of geography. The feature film
Close Encounter of the Third Kind
can also be used for its place and location.
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Ice Age
. The film was made in 2002, it was directed by Carlos Saldanha (I) and Chris Wedge. The animated, color film is 81 minutes long.
Natural resources like oil had come from the dinosaurs. In the film
Ice
Age a scene shows a dinosaur that gets caught in a mud hole, pretends that he /she is stuck, but is not. Ironically on many occasions mud holes or tar pits were places where many prehistoric mammals and dinosaurs got stuck in and died. Paleontologists have made many discoveries at these locations. Over eons dinosaur remains have produced oil, a natural resource found throughout North America. The misconception that mammals were not alive when the dinosaurs were can be discussed when viewing this film. The mammals in this animated feature lived at the same time as early man. The saber tooth tiger and the wooly mammoth may have been driven to extinction because of human hunting.
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The Blue Planet
. This film was made in 1990. The director is Ben Burtt and it was produced by IMAX. The narrators are James Buchli and Toni Myers. It is 40 minutes long.
The Blue Planet
shows the seven continents and the oceans from a 200 mile high vantage point. I would have students make comparisons of: areas of continents and oceans, lengths of rivers, longitude and latitude of places. The resources needed for this are geography books or maps or world fact tables. The information you want to share with students would be longest (length, height, or depth), biggest (area), and most famous place. The most amazing part of this film is the night time view of the earth taken from space. These images show us how populated some parts of the world are when compared to others.
The lights reveal how very populated and industrialized some of the places
(continents and countries) on earth are compared to others.
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Close Encounters of a Third Kind
was made in 1977. The film is 132 minutes long and is rated PG. The director is Steven Spielberg. This is a great film that covers parts of the United States.
The places that the film takes you to are Muncie, Indiana to see UFO's, the Sonora Desert in Mexico where a fleet of planes missing from 1945 have been placed, the Gobi Desert in Mongolia where a ship the Cotopaxi once lost at sea has been placed , and in Dharmsala, Northern India when thousands of people are chanting a five note tune that they heard from the sky. Finally, coordinates from sky give the longitude and latitude for a plateau in Wyoming (Devils Tower Monument). Many human beings feel drawn to this location. The film covers many arid lands (biomes would be considered deserts). The longitude and latitude given for the tower like mountain in Wyoming are not it's coordinates; it is 250 miles away from that shot. I would find the right location and show the actual site for these coordinates.
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Baraka
.
Baraka
was made in 1992, it is a non-feature color film, It is 96 minutes long. The director is Ron Fricke. The film has no plot and is composed of environmental footage from around the world.
Baraka
is a film that could be used as both an introduction and a conclusion for this part of the unit. There is not a theme of geography it does not incorporate. If I had to choose only one non-fiction film it would be this.
Baraka
shows many regions, locations, places, how people affect the environment and movement. The regions shown include biomes, like the rain forests and deserts. Some of the locations shown are the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Scenes from busy industrialized cities like Tokyo, Japan or places like Baghdad are shown. Communities near rivers makes use of this natural resource; for travel, irrigation, bathing, ceremonies and much more. The film demonstrates social changes as religions spread across the world and a variety of farming techniques used across lands and throughout the world.
New World
Explorers and Conquerors
There are historical fiction films and documentaries on famous explorers like Marco Polo, Eric the Red, Ponce de Leon, De Soto and many others. Originally Spain, France, Portugal sailed for a shorter route to the East for trade with China. However. as soon a s the great thrones realized that Christopher Columbus' discovery was a new world then the motives changes to Gold, Glory and God. The new natural resources were being claimed in the name of kings and queens of Europe. Now conquest was the ultimate motive for many. Films that depict the renowned founders of our country are
1492 Conquest of Paradise
, and
The Road to El Dorado
.
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1492 Conquest of Paradise
. The movie was made in 1992. It was made by Paramount Pictures. It is in color and stereo. The film is 154 minutes long. The film is rated PG 13. The director is Ridley Scott.
This feature film, was historically based, and was set in Spain as well as the New World Hispaniola. Hispaniola is today the shared island of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Queen Isabella of Spain sponsored the Italian map-maker and navigator, Christopher Columbus's trip. Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492 on his first trip and found land October 12,1492; he had indeed thought he found a short cut to the Indies and called the natives of San Salvador in the Bahamas "Indians". In the following weeks he sailed the Caribbean searching for China or Japan. He built a colony called La Navidad and traded with the natives for the little gold they had. After the Santa Maria was wrecked they decided to leave 39 men behind and return home to Spain. Upon his return he was proclaimed a hero and he presented King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella with gold, birds, plants and a number of Indians that he had brought back. On the second voyage, Columbus' return to the island, he brought 17 ships and more than 1,200 men. He found the settlement at La Navidad was empty and all the men killed by Indians. Columbus founded a new colony but, unfortunately had trouble governing it.
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This is a good movie to introduce nautical mile, fathom, and league. A nautical mile is just 800 more feet than a mile. Since Christopher Columbus was a navigator he kept track of the miles he spent on his voyages. Historians believe he was off with his own calculations.
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The Road to El Dorado
. The movie made in 2000 is an animated film in color and stereo. The film is 89 minutes. The film is rated PG. This animated film shows two young swindlers that get their hands on a map of a hidden treasure in the New World. The famous explorer Cortes leads an expedition to the New World to find gold.
This is a fun filled yet serious historical feature that shows some Europeans with a sense of compassion. Geographically the location is central America, and the purpose for the adventure to this new world is gold. Since many native American tribes were affected by Europeans this is a good time to talk about some of the changes Europeans made affecting the indigenous people.
Native Americans
The feature films I have in mind are
Black Robe
and
The Mission
. Both films include Jesuit priests that have come to bring Christianity to the Native Americans, one of the many reasons why Europeans came to the New World.
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Black Robe.
The movie was made in 1991 it is in color and stereo. The film is on video and is 101 minutes long. The film is rated R. A Jesuit priest and companion travel with Huron Indians as guides to a distant mission in the winter. They use three canoes to make the trip up the Saint Lawrence River. The area is northern New England and Quebec, Canada. This film must be edited for all students. However, it shows a real look at cultures with no judgments. The viewer can see human weaknesses and strengths in both the Native Americans and the new settlers.
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The Mission.
The movie was made in 1986. It is a Warner Brothers. The director is Roland Joffe. It is in color and stereo. The film is 125 minutes in long. The film is rated PG. Filmed in Argentina although set in Brazil.
Actors Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons play the parts of a villain that becomes saved and a Jesuit priest trying to save a mission and the Native Americans that belong to that area. The sword and the cloth come together to try to prevent the South American Indians from becoming slaves for colonization that is moving in and up the great waterfall and into the rain forests where they live.
Colonial New Haven
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The Amistad
. This film was made in 1997. The director is Steven Spielberg. The film is in
Technicolor
and lasts 152 minutes. The movie is based on an 1839 revolt, Africans taken from there homes through a slave port and on to Cuba, during a time when Spain , England and the United States made it illegal to have slaves brought into the New World.
In the end I plan to show our students backyard with the film
Amistad,
which depicts a Colonial American event that is a part of New Haven History. The trial of the Amistad lasted from 1839 to 1891 in which Yale and New Haven community people work to secure the freedom of the Amistad captives.
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I would like to compare colonial New Haven to New Haven today. I would take students to the Colonial New Haven Historical Society and a tour of New Haven colonial historical sites. Scale would still be an underlying goal. The students would be able to recreate on scale a replica of Edgerton Park mansion or Eli Whitney's factory or old mill or maybe even one of the old churches that are still on the green today.
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The Autobiography of Jane Pitman
. The film was made in 1974 for television. The director is John Korty and runs for 120 minutes. In 1962 a black women is celebrating her 110th birthday. She recalls being a slave and may of the major events that occurred during her lifetime. This is an excellent film to show because it reveals the immorality of slavery and also the necessity for it. I would use this film to show how Jane Pitman was born a slave in the south, traveled north to Ohio to live after the slave were freed and then only to become an indentured slave in Kentucky. She meets her husband and they walk to Texas and live there until he dies. Jane Pitman's last home is in Louisiana where she becomes a part of the civil rights movement. This is a very good film to show the locations of states in the United States.