More often than not, producers portray events that err on the side of impossible. Think the villain surviving a fall off a skyscraper, cars hurtling around cities in high-speed car crashes, and so on. While they may prove to be entertaining for their exciting antics and outrageous feats, they can also serve to enhance your lesson plans.

We have picked some examples from the ClassHook library that we think are great examples of how to create discussions springboarding from an evaluation of accuracy within these clips.

Speed

This clip can be found on the ClassHook website here.

Here, Annie is driving a bus and sees a gap in the freeway ahead. She speeds up and successfully jumps across the gap. Ask questions that poke at the validity of this occurrence, such as “What do you think would happen in the real world? Would the bus make it across the gap?”.

In turn, students can use methods, such as scientific analysis, to determine that this clip demonstrates a misconception about motion. The horizontal speed of an object does not influence how quickly it falls.

Passengers

This clip can be found on the ClassHook website here.

In this clip, Aurora is swimming in the pool, when the spaceship unexpectedly loses gravity. She is engulfed in the water, as it forms into a bubble and stays in place. She tries to escape and finally escapes to safety, when the gravity in the ship is turned back on.

Some suggestions for questions to kick-start brainstorming are “Would the water form into a bubble in zero gravity? Why or why not?”.

Consequently, they could apply the principles of cohesive attraction, adhesion, and Newton’s Third Law to this scenario to determine that it is plausible that the scene occurred as depicted in the movie.

Summing It Up

Next time that you see one of those seemingly far-fetched TV or movie scenes, don’t be so quick to write them off as noneducational. Instead, bring them into your classroom, and teach your students to not take anything at face value. After all, a quick evaluation of its accuracy in a real-world setting just may prove your hasty dismissal wrong.