Renee Hobbs, director of the Media Education Lab at the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island, cautions us to stop using the term "fake news" with students and be more precise about the types of disinformation prevalent in content today, from hoaxes and satire to clickbait. In this article, she…

YouTube is a mess. YouTube is for amateurs. YouTube dissolves the real. YouTube is host to inconceivable combos. YouTube is best for corporate-made community. YouTube is badly baked. These are a few of the things Media Studies professor Alexandra Juhasz (and her class) learned about YouTube when she set out to investigate what actually happens…

This article explores the use of media texts in contemporary high school social studies classrooms. Much of the current research regarding media education in social studies classes has focused on history classes and has centered on small idealized samples of both teachers and students. This study, based on the observations conducted in eight…

In this article, the authors ask: What is the difference between an assumed image of empowerment and a "real" image of empowerment? How can feminist educators help students to tell the difference? What do the discourses of current third-wave feminism and postfeminism teach women about representation, empowerment, and their place in the realm of…

Presents a process to prepare 10th-grade students to generate clear and thoughtful critiques of work in six nonprint media categories; movies, television shows, audio recordings, music videos, live performances, and computer programs. Provides detailed questions for student analysis of each. (SR)

A framework for media education that helps students enhance their understanding of the media and use their knowledge to influence individual and community action is proposed. It is experienced that the problem with educating children against, rather than about, the media is the assumption that students are passive audiences of the media, lacking…

Despite the image of the pernicious effects of mass media, media consumers are not passive receptors of media-generated beliefs and ideas. Educators can help adults become media literate by helping them decode, filter, and interpret the messages they read, see, and hear through content and context analysis. (SK)

Explores how teachers can help their students look for meaning in the visual media. Presents the theory that students object to looking for meaning in certain forms of visual media, because they dislike having their world complicated with unnecessary interpretive searching. Discusses the results of several class exercises adapted from David…

Uses the following National Council of Teachers of English Guidelines to show that media literacy works in the classroom and to show it works when incorporated into the conventional English classroom: (1) students need to construct meaning through different media; (2) students need to analyze their transactions with media texts; and (3) students…

Offers an overview of resource information in media literacy, including listings of key organizations; texts and resources for teaching on media literacy; comprehensive texts; sources of thematic curriculum units; and works that explore media genres. (SR)

Examines four commonalities of media education in the United States. Outlines the four ideological perspectives that in fact guide media education in the United States: celebration, protectionism, cultural criticism, and educated consumerism. Suggests what all of this means for the future of media education in the United States and what will be…

Media literacy is a topic that is being addressed globally as greater numbers of people become aware of the need to teach audience members how they are influenced by the media. Here, two of its broad categories - captive and voluntary - are identified. Examples of media literacy programs in Canada and Australia are also presented to illustrate the…

Discusses five realms to explore when distinguishing the efficacy of images. Explores six ethical issues that the use of images raise, such as misconception and sensationalism. Proposes a strategy for analyzing controversial images and illustrates the use of this methodology by analyzing the use of "Joe Camel" in advertising. (CMK)

Media literacy education is an emerging field in the US. At the same time, accountability in public schools is soaring. Critical media literacy, with its liberatory pursuits, is very much at odds with repetition and recall. Yet media culture is persuasive and pervasive, and critical media literacy's concepts are in line with critical pedagogy. So…

This student workbook provides information about mass media and invites students to consider and respond to that information. Students are encouraged to use reading, writing, researching, critical thinking, interpreting, and debating skills in their responses. The book is organized into 8 chapters: (1) "The World of Media"; (2) "Television: Is…