Moving pictures: Visual media's role promoting emotional student response regarding immigration

This study investigated one main exploratory research question. What role does student production and sharing of visual media play in eliciting emotional response concerning immigration?;This study was conducted within a multicultural urban classroom environment. It took place in a 5th grade class that was located in a New York City public school. It occurred during a social studies unit focusing on immigration. The classroom included 21 students, 17 of whom were classified as English Language Learners. The school was located in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. I acted as a researcher and provided instructional support for the classroom teacher during lessons. The teacher utilized various visual media to elicit student emotional responses concerning their thoughts, feelings and experiences with immigration experiences.;The conceptual framework for this qualitative study was narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Methods included participant observation, artifact production and analysis (documents and drawings), semi-structured interviews and case studies.;The study produced findings regarding student media production and media sharing. There were three findings related to media production. First, the study demonstrated that producing analog media could authenticate the past as depicted in the subject matter created through media. Second, commenting on visual media made abstract concepts more real for students by allowing them to express meaning motivated by concrete objects like photographs. And third, shooting photographs of personally selected immigration-related artifacts helped students articulate personally important ideas.;There were two findings related to media sharing. First, the study demonstrated that sharing personally produced visual media acted as a source of common emotional representation and an emotional outlet for student participants. Second, the study revealed limits when sharing media to elicit student emotions. Specifically, educators needed to moderate student response to peer feedback through emotional scaffolding.;The potential significance of this work is that studying visual media within formal academic multicultural school environments could open avenues for students to explore sensitive issues like immigration within a supervised classroom environment. This would ideally help foster a more inclusive, respectful multicultural environment that promotes more equal educational opportunities.