Davidson Films
Description
The fascinating interplay of genetic predispositions and experience in the development of the brain after birth is demonstrated in this program filmed at the Brain Development Laboratory at the University of Oregon. Three profiles of plasticity are depicted with compelling footage of behavioral, MRI, and EEG research into the development of visual perception and language acquisition from infancy through old age. A congenitally Deaf young woman, university...
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Born more than 25 years before Piaget or Vygotsky, Maria Montessori understood the constructivistic nature of all learning. Montessori's conception of the changing roles the classroom environment and teacher should play for students of various ages is presented in this program through carefully shot film of toddler, preschool, elementary school, and secondary school classes at work in accredited Montessori schools. Students will also learn about Dr....
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The opening line of this upbeat program is ⁰́Teaching is both an art and a science.⁰́₊ Filmed in three disparate but remarkable classrooms, the video illustrates how effective learning takes place when teachers combine their knowledge of child development, subject matter, and cognitive psychology. The three teachers combine music and graphic arts with reading, writing, and mathematics lessons in order to fully engage their students⁰́₉...
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The work of Lev Vygotsky is cited as the theory and practice of constructivist education. This program reconsiders the life, vocabulary, and concepts of Vygotsky, illustrating four basic concepts integral to his work: children construct knowledge, learning can lead development, development cannot be separated from its social context, and language plays a central role in cognitive development. Elena Bodrova brings an easy familiarity to these concepts,...
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Using the resources of the UCLA Brain Mapping Center, this program illustrates the development of neuroscience from its classical reliance on information from brain injuries and autopsies through current-day insights discovered with electronic microscopes, EEG equipment, PET scans, and MRI machines. Examples of research that utilizes these tools are presented, including a study on the role of mirror neurons in autism and the mapping of a woman's several...
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Betty Friedan, who originally gained fame for her pivotal role in the Women's Movement of the 1960s and '70s, continued to be an insightful and outspoken social critic for the rest of her life. In this program, Friedan discusses the research she did about the myths and realities of aging and her personal experience of being over 70. Her zesty style of speaking and her sharp analysis of long-accepted yet mistaken beliefs about aging make this video...
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The work of Jean Piaget has become the foundation of developmental psychology and the basis for changes in educational practice. In this program, David Elkind - author of The Hurried Child and Miseducation and a student of Piaget - explores the roots of Piaget's work and outlines important vocabulary and concepts that structure much of the study of child development. Using both archival film of Dr. Piaget and newer sequences of Dr. Elkind conducting...
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William James, more than anyone else, was responsible for introducing the wide range of topics that now make up the broad field of psychology. This program presents some of James⁰́₉s most important formulations, including his discussions of habit, consciousness, will, and religious experience, as well as what he referred to as the fringe of experience: the hunches, inexpressible feelings, and haunting memories that influence thoughts and actions....
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Referring to the work of Piaget, Erikson, and Goffman as well as to the studies of David Elkind, this program looks at the intellectual, emotional, and social consequences resulting from adolescent changes in thinking - a transition that can create social and emotional difficulties. The video includes footage of a public middle school and structured interviews illustrating the intellectual challenges of this period of life when adolescents are constructing...
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Other than Freud, no psychologist has been so discussed, critiqued, and, at times, maligned as B. F. Skinner. Using both archival and newer film, this program takes a penetrating look at who Skinner was and what he really said in his 20 books. Skinner's specialized terminology is introduced in context so students will understand how it was intended to be used and the research that produced it. In addition, the video lays to rest some myths and credits...
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This program offers both theoretical and practical perspectives on dramatic play. Through sequences of young children playing house, doctor's office, rescue squadron, and trick-or-treating, the theoretical positions that Vygotsky and other prominent theorists have taken in systematically studying play are illustrated. The video provides a thorough review of traditional ways of studying play (the Freudian-Eriksonian emphasis on its emotional content,...
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Filmed in 1993, this program defines crucial elements of all assessments and visits three classrooms - a Head Start, a kindergarten, and a third grade - to show how the academic progress of young students can be evaluated without recourse to norm-referenced, standardized testing. Narrator Samuel Meisels makes his case for the documentation of achievement while also providing viewers with the vocabulary necessary to understand the field of assessment....
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Mary Ainsworth's 'Strange Situation' is now basic to understandings of infant-parent interactions and, thus, later emotional development. This program details the developmental course of attachment behaviors and the different patterns that are captured by the controlled observational techniques of the 'Strange Situation.' Using archival footage (including the Harlow primate studies) and newer film sequences, the video also gives students a sense of...
Description
Because seeing is so important to human functioning, efforts to understand how perceptions are generated have most often focused on vision. Based on research in cognitive neuroscience, this program explores the challenge of explaining visual perception. The video includes an overview of the human visual system, illustrated with animated graphics and live action footage, and describes, using a series of engaging optical demonstrations, the profound...
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According to Piaget, intelligence develops in a necessary sequence of stages that are related to age. In this program, David Elkind uses structured interviews with children from 4 to 9 years of age to illustrate the development of transitive thinking and reversibility as boys and girls move from the preoperational to concrete operational stage of cognitive development. Children's construction of the unit concept, so basic to arithmetic and beginning...
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John Bowlby's Attachment Theory shows how relational patterns set early in life affect emotional bonds later in life. This program's focus is on attachment theory as it explains many aspects of personality development from childhood through adulthood, with a special emphasis on issues related to attachment in later life as people seek to establish new ties and cope with separations and losses. Therapeutic applications of the theory as developed by...
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Albert Bandura's work has become basic to an understanding of how social forces influence individuals, small groups, and large groups. From his early BoBo doll experiments up through his work with phobias and self-efficacy, Bandura has given researchers a sense of how people actively shape their own lives and those of others. Utilizing archival materials and newer visuals, this program introduces students to the vocabulary and innovative methods of...
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Filmed successively in 1978, 1988, and 1997, this award-winning program tracks Lily, a person with Down syndrome, from childhood into adulthood. 'Lily: A Story about a Girl Like Me' introduces Lily at age 10 and in third grade, where, as a pioneer for mainstreaming, she is filmed coming to terms with both academic and social pressure. 'Lily: A Sequel' catches up with Lily at 20, with scenes of her triumphant graduation from high school and of her...
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Building on the ideas of Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner, Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong worked with teachers in urban schools to foster self-regulated learning. This program presents both the theoretical underpinnings of their work and its results as viewers sit in on busy classrooms where students are being helped to take responsibility for their education. The video offers useful viewpoints on constructivist practice in elementary education.
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Wisdom and integrity are something that other people may see in an old person, but it's not what that old person is feeling. In this program, Joan M. Erikson offers a frank and personal reexamination of the last stage of the life cycle-a stage she believes that she and her husband, Erik H. Erikson, tended to romanticize when they formulated their eight-stage life cycle theory decades earlier. With grace, humor, and some feistiness, Mrs. Erikson takes...