Product Description
Feedback: Hidden Figures is our most downloaded teaching guide. If you are one of the teachers using it and loving it, we’d love it if you’d contact us and let us know why this guide works so well for your students.
Film runtime: 2 hours, 7 minutes
Film rating: PG. Common Sense Media rates this film as appropriate for ages 10+.
Grade Levels: These resources best for Grades 4+ in most cases. Some curriculum materials are better for older students. The discussion guide should work with most student grades.
Reviews: Read Video Librarian’s review of Hidden Figures.
Where to Watch: Watch it on Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms. Or buy the DVD or Blu-ray.
Literary connection: For a film-book pairing, teach the Hidden Figures movie with the book it was based on,
Discussion Guide
- The Numbers Don’t Lie
- Introduction to the Film
- Exploring the Film: Hidden Figures
- The Jim Crow South
- ‘Eyes on the Prize’: The Civil Rights Movement in the ’50s and ’60s
- Woman’s Place…
- The Women of West Computing
- The Cold War and the Space Race
- Looking at the Future: Career Choices in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
- Additional Reading and Resources
Curriculum Guide
Lesson 1: Bitter Rivals: The Cold War at Mid-Century (Social Studies)
Lesson 2: Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Race (Social Studies, Science)
Lesson 3: Moving to the Front of the Bus: Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement (Social Studies)
Lesson 4: The Women of ‘West Computing’: A Viewer-Response Approach (Language Arts, Social Studies)
Lesson 5: The Math of Space Travel: Orbits and Conic Sections (Geometry)
Lesson 6: Computers Come of Age (Physics, Programming)
Lesson 7: Shooting Scripts and Active Viewing (Film Literacy) – The Glossary of Film Terms linked below would be useful for this lesson.
Lesson 8: The Women of Science (Science, History, Career Readiness)
Glossary of Film Terms
The Glossary of Film Terms is useful for the Film Literacy lessons that are part of this curriculum guide.
Preview Glossary of Film Terms
How to download your free resources
Related Resources:
- Teaching Black History? Hidden Figures lessons are part of our Black History Lesson Collection.
- Our article on Teaching Women’s History includes Hidden Figures and other complementary materials.
- Hidden Figures is featured in Video Librarian articles about 10 Films That Celebrate Women in Science and an Teaching Historical and Current Events Through Film.
- Hidden Figures was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Learn more about teaching with Academy Award Wining Films.
- Webinar: Learn more about teaching with Hidden Figures with our free, on-demand, PD-credit webinar at Share My Lesson: Hidden Figures: Using Film to Teach Across the Curriculum.
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Sustainable Development Goals
Journeys in Film supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more about teaching with UN SDGs. This resource connects to the following SDGs.
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