EDU Movies: using fiction movies for student-centered learning

Abstract

Establishing a context for the application of knowledge, developing their sense of belonging, and using materials that play a social role in their lives engage undergraduates and makes them core of their own learning. However, this is complicated to achieve in courses without laboratories or under restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic. Current work reports the implementation and impact of EDU Movies, a student-centered learning asynchronous activity to generate learning scenarios using fiction movies. It was carried out in the Ecological Processes for Human Development online course with 57 undergraduates (29 females and 28 males) enrolled in different programs. EDU Movies addressed the topics of environment, sustainable development and ethics and citizenship. To measure the impact, the participants perceptions were gathered using a survey and their answers were analyzed using statistics and text analysis. The evidence shows that over 69% of the students perceived that the movies were a great aid for learning the topics, particularly for female undergraduates.