Identified patterns that characterized soap operas, cartoons, and prime-time drama: (1) the predominant form of interaction was dyadic; (2) the most frequent speakers and receivers of messages were males; (3) the most pervasive message was an assertion of dominance; and (4) the concept of power was not sex-linked. (PD)

Studies done at Stanford University for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggest that well-planned public service announcements on television can effectively teach children about nutrition. (Author/SJL)

Presents opinions on various issues related to consumerism in the United States and questions how students in economic education classes can be helped to understand economic issues. (Author/DB)

A study investigated the ability of 8 adolescents with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism to pick funny endings for cartoons and jokes. The adolescents with autism had significantly poorer comprehension of cartoons and jokes than age-matched controls. Both subjects and controls had more difficulty with the joke task. (Contains…

Recommends the use of political cartoons in history instruction. Identifies characteristics of effective cartoons: (1) wit or humor; (2) basis in truth; and (3) moral purpose. Argues that the study of cartoons can promote creativity and social science skills. Identifies sources of cartoons. (SG)

Focuses on films about dinosaurs that were made for young children. Nine films from 1981 to 1993 are reviewed and assigned ratings based on such issues as appeal for children, scientific content, and pedagogic soundness. Drawbacks such as factual errors or difficulty in following the film are also noted. Film length, source, and price are…

Explains the Networked Interactive Media in Schools (NIMIS) project based in Germany, England, and Portugal that is supported by the EU (European Union), and describes software that was designed to encourage literacy and creative writing using cartoon-style stories with pictures, sound, and text with the help of an agent. (Author/LRW)

Researchers have noted that one of the key skills critical to proficient teaching is verbal questioning. With teachers asking about 300 to 400 questions per day and, depending on the type of lesson, as many as 120 questions per hour, it is essential that they be skilled in using verbal questioning. Unfortunately, researchers studying teachers' use…

Do young children appreciate the importance of access to premises when judging what another person knows? In Experiment 1, 5-year-olds (N=31) were sensitive to another person's access to premises when predicting that person's ability to point to a target after eliminating alternatives in a set of 3 cartoon characters. Experiment 2 replicated the…

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of demonizing in the two major media that young children use (television and movies). Two content analyses were conducted using the animated feature films (n = 34) of the Walt Disney Company and after-school cartoons (n = 41). Each was coded for the modeling of the use of "evil" words when…

The purpose of this article is to explore the evidence suggesting the effectiveness of literacy instruction through communicative and visual arts, according to Flood, Heath, and Lapp (1997). Visual arts includes everything from dramatic performances to comic books to television viewing. The communicative arts, such as reading, writing, and…

If we want to integrate science into society as part of modern culture, we should first ensure that we know about the image that its citizens hold, starting with the students themselves. One of the aims of this could be to increase the number of students studying physics when at present they appear to be in decline. In this paper, we analyse the…