A Moviemaking PBL Experience Brings History to Life

One of the challenges students often face, especially in content-heavy subjects like social studies, is feeling overwhelmed by the volume of information they’re expected to retain. When test season approaches, they can easily become buried under dates, events, and complex historical contexts.

To counter this, I’ve implemented a year-end moviemaking challenge. Each group of students selects a topic we’ve explored, then works together to write, direct, and produce a short film, five to 15 minutes long. The results have been transformative. The opportunity to creatively reinterpret historical events empowers students to internalize the content more deeply than traditional review ever could.

Moviemaking allows students to bring historical figures and events to life, often reimagining them through fresh perspectives. Whether they’re reenacting the Boston Tea Party or imagining conversations between world leaders such as Napoleon or Churchill during momentous events in history, students move beyond mere memorization. They begin to ask questions like these: What would this person have felt? What could have been different? What if we told this story through satire or flashbacks?

BUILDING LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY THROUGH film

This moviemaking challenge embodies the core principles of both project-based learning (PBL) and cooperative learning. Students don’t simply complete an assignment, they solve problems, make creative decisions, and collaborate across strengths and personalities.

The final product is more than just a film—it’s a demonstration of voice, vision, and agency. It reflects deep engagement with academic material and meaningful inquiry, all brought to life through teamwork and storytelling.

One of the most rewarding aspects of this initiative is the good-natured sense of competition along with the leadership it cultivates. Students are responsible for organizing their teams, setting deadlines, assigning roles, and managing workflow. On the day of the festival, it’s their show, literally. They introduce films, welcome the audience, and facilitate the event. It is their time to shine!

Even more inspiring is the ripple effect. Younger students who attend the festival leave buzzing with excitement. For them, the film festival is something they can’t wait to be part of as they proceed from one grade to the next.

getting started with moviemaking

At the beginning of the year, I ask my students to pay special attention to every unit we cover together this year. They write three aspects they liked about it and three aspects that would make this unit particularly appropriate for film adaptation (narrative characteristics, charismatic figures, unexpected plot twists, etc.).

I also blend arts and music with my units: What song could be the best soundtrack for this historical moment? Or what was the trendiest garment during the Enlightenment? This way, students will get their creative thinking in motion by imagining what a particular setting might look like.

I use role-playing and dramatization throughout the year so that my students overcome their initial embarrassment when it comes to actual acting. For instance, students put on court trials when it is time to learn about the Estates-General voting system or Louis XVI’s life-or-death sentence, give speeches when learning about Napoleon, and write letters when learning about patriots and royalists.

Finally, I provide students with a summative handout at the end of each unit to collect these ideas. This can also be useful as a revising activity at the end of each topic.

GUIDELINES AND STRATEGIES

I normally get the camera ready to roll one month before the festival date, so we spend the last month of the academic year on film-making. Early phases of development take place in class so I can monitor group dynamics and offer coaching where needed. As production progresses, I trust the process, regularly checking in on the students without influencing their creative choices.

To keep the project on track and student-focused, I provide clear guidelines:

• Work in teams and divide roles according to interests: director, scriptwriter, camera operator, editor, and of course actors.

• Begin with a strong concept and rough script. Even a loose outline helps guide the film’s structure.
• Ensure factual accuracy. Historical details must align with what we’ve studied or be supported by additional research.
• Avoid inappropriate content. Use creativity and special effects to portray drama or conflict in ways that are age-appropriate.
• Share the script with your teacher for light feedback. I mainly check for factual accuracy and appropriateness, leaving space for student voice and innovation.

Students have access to their devices at all times to develop the first phases of the project. In order to film, they can use their phones or their tablets, and the postproduction is supported by online apps such as CapCut or Canva. Here is where those students who are inclined to experiment with digital tools take the lead. No one is forced to use special effects or transitions, but adding subtitles for inclusion and piecing all of the takes together is a great chance for students to share their tech secrets with one another.

In today’s tech-integrated classrooms, one question often comes up: How do you handle AI use during the scriptwriting process? Personally, I don’t prohibit it. If students choose to use AI as a brainstorming or drafting tool, that’s fine, so long as they take full ownership of the final product. They’re still responsible for verifying facts, revising the script to fit their narrative voice, designing costumes and sets, and managing all aspects of filming and acting. And frankly, the hands-on creative work is where the real learning happens.

Assessment Aligned With the Process

When you embrace project-based learning, it’s only natural that your assessment practices evolve, too. I don’t assess these films as I would traditional tests. Instead, I provide students with a rubric from the beginning, focused on the following:

Content accuracy. Are key facts and historical interpretations correct?

Creativity and originality. Does the story reflect unique thinking and expression?

Collaboration and participation. Did the group work well together and contribute equally?

Here’s the truth, though: I’ve never given a grade for these projects. I want the students to understand that not everything meaningful needs to come with a numerical score. The real reward is the process, the product, and the recognition from their community of peers. As a matter of fact, students vote on which awards will be presented, including these:

• Best Movie
• Best Script
• Best Special Effects
• Best Acting

This way, audience appreciation becomes more inclusive, allowing peers to recognize a wide range of talents. Whether it’s writing, performance, or postproduction work, each group has an opportunity to shine in their area of strength.

One particularly memorable project came from a group of seventh graders who produced a film titled Brothers of Liberty, centered on the American Revolution. Their original narrative choices and development of the subject were so dazzling that the film is now shown as a model to younger students. With a very effective narrative plot line, they imagined that two kids are learning about the American Revolution in a book, and as they flip through it, events of the war unfold in a touching personal family story of reconnection and loss. The group won Best Movie at the festival, and to this day, they still speak of it with pride.

When we invite students to create, lead, and express themselves, we give them the opportunity to learn in ways that matter. Every year, this moviemaking project reminds me that middle school students are not just capable—they’re remarkable. All we need to do is give them the tools, the time, and the trust to take the stage.