Movies vs books or comic-books for consolidating knowledge in college students: Results of an empirical study

Abstract

Abstract Objectives. Not only does integrating movies into the college classroom represent an opportunity for promoting knowledge, it also increases students’ interest in daily lessons. However, little is known regarding the type of academic movie tasks which might help establish relevant concepts in Psychobiology. Hence, the main objectives of this study were: 1) to analyse whether using commercial movies to answer a set of questions would have a positive impact on the acquisition of new concepts; 2) to evaluate whether watching movies presents specific advantages in student performance when compared to reading books or comic-books by answering the same questions and evaluating student perception regarding satisfaction, commitment, difficulty, and usefulness. Method. Participants were randomly assigned to two mandatory (n= 89) or voluntary (n = 74) tasks after indicating whether they preferred watching movies or reading books or comic-books to answer specific questions. The total score of both tasks (assessed by two independent reviewers based on common correction criteria) was collected. In addition, an online survey gathered students’ hobbies and habits before starting the tasks, as well as their perceptions regarding the tasks after completing them. The final score was obtained from the final objective exam which measured their subject knowledge. Results. Our study revealed that students preferred watching movies to complete their tasks, which had a positive impact on the consolidation of their knowledge. Nonetheless, there were no differences between the groups’ (type of stimulus or mandatory character) performance or students’ perception of both tasks. Conclusions. Our study highlights which type of academic tasks could be employed in Psychobiology for consolidating knowledge. Moreover, it reinforces the notion that students’ preferences do not necessarily correspond with their performance.