1 ONE WORLD, TWO CLASSROOMS, THIRTEEN DAYS: FILM AS AN ACTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING TOOL IN CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Cristina Yumie Aoki Inoue Instituto de Relações Internacionais Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro Universidade de Brasilia – Asa Norte Caixa Postal 04306 – CEP 70919 – Brasilia, DF (Brazil) Email:
[email protected] Phone: 55 61 3107 3644 or 31073637 and Matthew Krain Department of Political Science The College of Wooster Wooster, OH 44691, USA Email:
[email protected] Phone: 1 330 263 2469 ABSTRACT This study assesses the pedagogical value of film as case material, and whether that value is affected by the different national and institutional contexts of the students engaging that text. We test whether students in two different Theories of International Relations classrooms – one in Brazil and one in the United States – demonstrated a statistically significant, different level of increased knowledge, understanding, or ability to apply theoretical frameworks to real world cases. Students in each class cover the same theoretical approaches using the same focused readings on theories of foreign policy decision-making, and then view the same film – Thirteen Days – to which they apply these theoretical frameworks. Using a quasi-experimental design, we use pre- and post-test surveys or “quizzes” to directly measure students’ knowledge about the case, and ability to apply IR theories to it. We also measure film’s utility indirectly by asking questions about students’ perceptions of their own understanding of the cases, and their perceptions of the utility of film as a tool in the IR classroom on those surveys. The film selected is a U.S.