A report for the British Library concluded that despite access to information provided by contemporary technology, there had been no increase in the information literacy of students. Major publications from the National Middle School Association, including "This We Believe" and "From Rhetoric to Reality," recognize that the mass media is a…

Media consolidation and convergence have increasingly changed the way individuals as both consumers and citizens access, process, and communicate information at the local, national, and global levels. Media industries and institutions influence public perception and occupy our time at work and at home more and more. Media literacy has become…

Discusses basic film story types which concern adolescents: delinquency or peer group, school life, sexual awakening, family life, sport and/or animals, and anguished adolescents. Critical criteria for judging films are also considered, including style and statement, images and issues, and form and content. Fifteen sources and recommended films…

This article explores the use of movies as valuable instructional tools. When students are engaged with the content through a medium they love, they learn better and retain more. Incorporating motion pictures as part of classroom instruction has been spurred by the endorsement of both of the major reading and language arts organizations in the…

Connecting the curriculum of the K-12 classroom with the "curriculum of the living room," this book helps teachers and library media specialists maintain a viable program of visual (or media) literacy by presenting background information on the visual literacy movement and dozens of effective strategies and classroom activities that are ready to…

This book argues that people live simultaneously in two different cultures. Values of the first culture are imparted to children through curriculum in the nation's public school classrooms. The second culture is the world of mass communication that promotes consumption, instant gratification, and impulse. The clash between these cultures confronts…

Considers three approaches to using entertainment films in history and social studies classes. Provides a list of Hollywood films currently available on videotape and a list of books, articles, and journals dealing with the role of film in society. (GG)

Suggests that the notion that the young can be protected by denying them access to materials has been invalidated by the expansion of the electronic environment and changes in community standards. Argues that since students today cannot avoid exposure to questionable material, it is important to see that the exposure they receive is educated and…