Ellen Wartella, PhD, a leading scholar of the role of media in children's development, responds to questions about the role of media in the lives of very young children. She discusses how technology is having an impact on parents and children and provides some context for how parents and caregivers can make informed decisions about using media…

Yes We Can: Improving Urban Schools through Innovative Educational Reform is a empirically-based book on urban education reform to not only proclaim that hope is alive for urban schools, but to also produce a body of literature that examines current practices and then offer practical implications for all involved in this arduous task. This book is…

Discusses how parents can monitor their childrens' television viewing, offering tips to keep children entertained without television (e.g., move the television, set viewing rules, be aware of what children are watching, have other activities easily available, encourage reading and literacy, talk, invite friends over, promote hobbies, and share…

Examines television's impact on children, discussing how much television children watch, what children watch and how it influences their world view, how parents dispel mass media misconceptions and fears, and whether children would get better grades if they watched less television. Suggestions for making television an educational resource are…

This book is intended to provide insights into the role that the mass media play in the broad educational process, especially in the ways that young people develop their beliefs and feelings about human diversity. The book also offers insights and ideas for grappling with the media teaching-learning process and for understanding its implications…

Recognizing expressions of youth culture is a major step toward understanding teens. This understanding can help parents keep lines of communication open between them and their teens. Making it clear that you do not want your child to use alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs is a proven factor in reducing youth drug use. RETROspective is designed to…

This ERIC/RCS Special Collection contains 10 or more Digests (brief syntheses of the research on a specific topic in contemporary education) and FAST Bibs (Focused Access to Selected Topics--annotated bibliographies with selected entries from the ERIC database), providing up-to-date information in an accessible format. The collection focuses on…

This book is a practical, accessible guide for parents on the use of television with children in today's media-focused world. It offers parents practical techniques and strategies to take control of the types of programs and amounts of television their children watch. Parts 1 and 2 of the book contain views on parenting in general and some…

This program provides a new framework and approach for breaking the cycle of blame surrounding violent imagery in the culture and promotes an informed and rational public conversation about the topic. The goals of the program are to: (1) reduce exposure to media violence; (2) change the impact of violent images that are seen; (3) locate and…

Many believe that America's children are exposed to negative messages by the media--violence, irresponsible sex, and materialism--making it difficult for parents to teach traditional values. Noting that what motivates parents is the desire to teach their children right from wrong while what motivates society is financial profit, this book explores…

This workshop kit consists of: (1) "Leader's Guide"; (2) "Handout Masters"; (3) special issue of the journal "Media & Values" on the theme "Children and Television: Growing Up in a Media World"; (4) "From Awareness to Action: Media Literacy for the '90s," a booklet on the basics of media literacy. The kit is designed for a four-part study of the…

This book offers advice and specific guidelines for making the most of the learning and entertainment potential of video and the new media. It shows how parents can carefully select and use TV programs, videos, and the new media to enhance their children's intellectual and emotional growth--liberating parents from TV "guilt." Chapters in…

This book offers the insights and perspectives of 39 sexuality educators. The collection of essays, full of theoretical considerations and practical implications, addresses the needs of those responsible for educating young people about sexuality and examines the major issues and concerns of sexuality education within the school setting.…