Emotional Engagement and Movie Images: Laughing Matters in Lecturing?

Signature Grand, Davie, Florida, USA

Objective. To determine various forms, benefits and general principles underlying the use of film images during lectures in education of health care professionals. Background. Demonstration of motion pictures has been described as a method to facilitate learning of psychosocial and behavioral aspects of medicine. Application of movies or actors’ images for instruction in basic sciences has received little attention. In this research, I have focused on how to evoke a positive emotional engagement of students by infusing humor via cinematic images during lectures. Methods. Literature search on the topic has been performed. Students’ comments on the effect of movie images shown during my Physiology course were analyzed. The comments were obtained from evaluations completed by four different groups of students: Osteopathic Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry and Pharmacy. Results. Pictures from 16 movies were shown during lectures. Displaying actors’ images creates 1-2 minute transition intervals during lectures that help listeners to stay receptive to the complicated material, shift attention to the ideas and points to remember and build memorable associations between physiological concepts and clinical conditions. Movie titles can serve as effective punch lines in humorous transition to a new topic or in imposing an accent on a previously discussed topic. Students referred positively to certain Hollywood celebrities or movie titles. Their comments confirmed the engaging effect of actors’ images. Conclusion. Cinematic images can be used as effective elements of medical presentations that help to gain and hold audience attention, facilitate creative thinking and memory, and impart information in an enjoyable way.