I know that this topic seems a bit out of place, but I wanted to follow up comments made by David Calladine, one of the readers of this weblog. David teaches science in the UK, and specializes in teaching environmental science. One of his entries was in response to a post entitled Teaching About Global Warming, or Should it be Global Weirding. In his comment, he indicates that he uses images as a tool to motivate his students, and help them learn about environmental science. One of the sources of his images, and music is a film created in 1992 by Ron Frick, entitled Baraka.
Baraka is an ancient Sufi word which means “blessing, or as the breath, or essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds.” Baraka is a nonverbal film containing images of 24 nations, and music created for the film. You can go to this website, and scroll down to see some of the images. More than that, when you go to this website you will find out that there is a sequel to Baraka being produced by Frick and his film crew entitled Samsara. Samsara is a Tibetan word that means “the ever turning wheel of life.” According to the filmakers, through powerful images, the film will illuminate the links between humanity and the rest of nature, showing how our life cycle mirrors the rhythm of the planet. Samsara will be part of a 21st Century mythology, revealing parts of our imperilled planet never before photographed.
You will also find links to some other nonverbal films that you can use in your science classes. Here are a few of them:
The films identified in this post, and on these sites are powerful teaching tools. They use imagery to motivate and bring students in touch with ways in which they connect to the world, an essential aspect of helping students learn and understand science.
Here are a few images from Baraka to give you an idea of what you and your students might expect.
Thank you to David Calladine for writing about Baraka in his post.
“Baraka is an ancient Sufi word which means “blessing, or as the breath”. It has the same meaning in Hebrew.
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