Observing and Describing "The Pear Film"

Abstract

Download for full resources - To prepare students for their first observation assignment in a natural setting I find it useful to let them practice the experience by watching one particular film clip in which there is no speech and the only sounds are the ambient noises in the environment. The rest of the film consists of non-verbal actions. In other...

Download this resource to see full details. Download this resource to see full details.

Details

Subject Area(s):

Ethnography

Resource Type(s):

Assignment, Class Activity, Video

Class Level(s):

College 300

Class Size(s):

Medium

Usage Notes

In teaching ethnographic methods, especially participant observation, it is challenging to structure a lesson that focusing only on cultivating observational skills for students. The most typical approach is to introduce the concept of observation at the same time as participation is discussed, i.e. participant observation. Much of the difficulty in...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Students develop real-time observational skills by watching a film in class (The Pear Film) that consists solely of people doing things with ambient noises from the environment. The film does not include verbal communication
2. Students watch the same film for a homework assignment. Students provide a detailed description of activity occurring in the film with the goal of doing so without interpreting the meaning of actions to those engaged in it. Students then write a narrative
3. For the same homework assignment, students learn to envision perspective by watching the camera angle of the video to simulate different physical points of view in the film at different points in time.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Students use a two-column note taking template to write scratch notes describing what is happening in the film in the left column of the notes template as they watch the film.
2. Students use a two-column note taking template to write descriptions in the right column that fill-in, or correct, the details of activities noted in their scratch notes from the initial viewing.
3. Students sketch a map of the key locations in the setting and note actions that the film depicts in them. Students write a narrative describing what happens in the film.