Emotional learning

Even more pertinent to the use of popular media in the classroom, Affective Learning theory posits that our brains perform differently depending on emotional arousal. Physical evidence of this is manifest as differentiated blood flow patterns in the brain, brought about by varied emotional states such as fear, sadness, and joy. A positive mood “induces a different kind of thinking, characterized by a tendency toward greater creativity and flexibility in problem solving.”4

Emotions are integral to learning. They establish connections to memory, which strengthens information storage processes and provides trigger mechanisms for recall. One of the reasons individuals choose to engage with various forms of media is precisely because they elicit an emotional response. Movies, television, and music can make us laugh or cry; they can lighten our mood or facilitate wallowing in self-pity. Librarians can exploit this function to advantage by using media to help create emotional connections to the concepts we want students to learn.

The selection of examples from the popular media goes beyond simply choosing those that students will most likely enjoy and which will stimulate some kind of emotion. In the course at Woodbury University, where this practice is implemented, the content and learning objectives are directly tied to ACRL’s “Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.”5 The examples illustrate specific elements of those standards and outcomes.

When introducing the media clips in class, each is treated as if it were a short story. Briefly describing the background, plot, and characters with enough detail to draw the students into the story invites them to develop some identification with the characters. This is important, as it lays a foundation for the emotional response that will be connected with the information. Also important is the brief description of the literacy behaviors that will be enacted on screen, so the students won’t become so involved in the story they forget why it’s being shown. For optimum effectiveness, include also in the class session a hands-on activity that builds on the same concepts during the class session.

Films for the classroom

Scenes from the film High Fidelity illustrate an element of ACRL Standard One related to the organization of information.6 In this film, record store owner Rob Gordon and his friends frequently create “top five lists” as a basis for conversation among themselves—for example, Top 5 Dream Jobs or Top 5 Songs About Death. It’s one way they internally organize for themselves the things they think are significant in their lives.

The scene begins with Rob talking about his top five relationship breakups, reminiscing about number 4: Laura. Anyone who’s ever experienced such heartbreak will identify with our hero. Alone in his apartment, he is reorganizing his vast LP record collection when a friend drops by. The conversation about Rob’s organizing scheme introduces several possible structures before settling on one that would be intelligible to only one person: Rob. He calls his scheme “autobiographical.”

A bit later, Rob’s friend describes a particular singer as “Sheryl Crow-ish, post-Partridge Family/pre-L.A. Law Susan Dey kind of thing” —cultural references that may be unfamiliar to many students.7 Using a common vocabulary that illustrates their shared understanding of the attributes of the media figures mentioned, the friend communicates a mental picture that helps Rob know what to expect. This brief two-minute sequence serves as a springboard for discussion about materials formats and permanency, organization and classification schemes, and vocabulary specific to a group or academic discipline.

A clip from The School of Rock can be used to introduce another element of ACRL Standard One, where “existing information can be combined with original thought, experimentation, and/or analysis to produce new information,” as well as Standard Four where the student “individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose . . . applies new and prior information to the planning and creation of a particular product or performance; . . . (and) communicates the product or performance effectively to others.”8

As a prelude to introducing this story, students are reminded that the research process is founded on the examination of others’ ideas. Building on those ideas, researchers add their own original conclusions to the existing body of knowledge and then package the new, unique ideas in a format that best facilitates communication with their peers. A backdrop accompanying this portion could be the Google Scholar search page that references Sir Isaac Newton’s statement, “If I have seen further [than certain other men] it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”9

In this comedy film, Dewey Finn is masquerading as substitute teacher at an exclusive private school. Having no formal education or training as a teacher, he falls back on the specialized knowledge that he does possess, rock musicianship, in order to develop a class project for the students to work on together: they will form a band, write songs, promote themselves, and perform live.

In a montage of their progress, we see the group process in action (brainstorming, building enthusiasm, incorporating individual strengths and interests), the use of multiple resources for research, and the access of information in various formats and subjects (music history, business, fashion, science, dance). The students in the film study past musicians and different types of music, using those examples for inspiration, while creating new, original sounds, and songs.10 This scene mirrors the process that our students use with articles, books, and other sources to write a research paper.

The horror film The Ring can be used in the class session covering the research process. This is part of ACRL Standard Two, in which the student “accesses needed information effectively and efficiently . . . selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems . . . identifies keywords, constructs and implements effective search strategies, retrieves information online or in person using variety of methods, uses various retrieval systems with different interfaces and search engines . . . [and] selects among various technologies the most appropriate one for the task of extracting the needed information.”11

In just under six minutes, all of these skills are illustrated as newspaper reporter Rachel puts the research process into action in an attempt to unravel the mystery of her niece’s bizarre death. Starting with a peculiar videotape in her possession, she visits a studio to use vintage VHS equipment, moves on to a library, and then to her place of employment where she has access to a proprietary database for newspaper articles.

We see her refine and revise her online search strategy, add a search of the open Web, and then move on to the gloomy storage room housing back issues of the newspaper where she accesses and photocopies articles from bound print volumes.12 Consciously or not, the filmmakers have demonstrated a classic research strategy using multiple formats. A death threat, a tiny bit of gore, spooky music, and a sense of urgency all elicit a certain emotional response and draw students into the story.

To introduce some active learning, students are asked to take notes during the viewing on how Rachel does her research, the keywords she uses, and the resources and materials she uses. They then provide the information to create the following table on the whiteboard in the classroom:

Since the making of this film, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has ceased printing newspapers, moving to an online-only publication with a drastically reduced number of staff.13

Merging fiction with real events, this presents an opportunity to ask students to speculate on the current status of those bound print volumes, and then expand the conversation to include new directions and developments in information dissemination, storage, and retrieval.

You may be thinking to yourself, “That’s all well and good, but I have such a limited amount of class time and so much material to present . . . how can I possibly squeeze in film clips?” Well, High Fidelity is 3 minutes, The School of Rock is 6 ½ minutes, and The Ring is about 6 minutes. And which scenario is better? To present the maximum amount of material, or to have the students actually remember some of the material because it’s been learned through the instructor’s use of more than one medium of presentation? When we choose the former option, we run the risk of overwhelming students with content without the opportunity to attach real meaning and understanding—the hallmark of true learning.

It would be extremely rare if a student were to come to us with no information literacy skills at all. To some degree one acquires a basic understanding of what information is and how to access it by progressing through the educational system. Students bring some measure of skill that has been formally learned, but they also bring some perceptions that have been acquired through immersion in the culture. While we can build upon the existing skills, it is these cultural perceptions under the surface that we have to address and sometimes counteract. Examples taken from the popular media provide engaging models of the information literacy behaviors we would like to student to practice. They introduce opportunities to discuss the relevance to life within, and, perhaps more importantly, beyond the academic community.