Reality television shows featuring teen pregnancy may be used as media literacy education tools to positively affect youth sexual health outcomes. Concerns, however, exist that such programming may glamorize teen pregnancy. The present study examined how viewing and discussing episodes of MTV's "16 and Pregnant", a reality television…

One of the general purposes of Social Studies is to integrate individuals with the social life by providing accurate knowledge and skills about their environment and society. As well as the role of Social Studies in raising consciousness on EU relations, Social Studies teachers' views about EU membership and the sources of these views are…

Empathy in college-age students is decreasing at unprecedented rates. Understanding empathy in children can act as primary prevention in tackling the problem. This study considers laugh tracks' capacity to bias reality, foster empathy, and investigate differences across time and gender in 181 fifth grade students. Findings from this…

This study explored parents' and preschool personnel's opinions on factors influencing 3-5-year-old children's sedentary behaviors by applying the socioecological model. Four focus group interviews with preschool personnel (N = 14) and six interviews with parents (N = 17) were conducted in autumn 2014. Two researchers independently analyzed the…

In the Netherlands, crossing borders to study comprehensive schools was an important strategy in the 1970s, a decisive period for the start and the end of the innovation. According to policy-borrowing theory, actors that engage in debating educational issues are framing foreign examples of comprehensive schooling to convince their audiences.…

Schools are increasingly involved in efforts to promote health and healthy behavior among their adolescent students, but are healthier students better learners? This synthesis of the empirical, longitudinal literature investigated the effects of the most predominant health-related behaviors--namely, alcohol and marijuana use, smoking, nutrition,…

In today's media-saturated societies it can be assumed that encounters with therapists and other experts may have implications for adult learning. Taking the point of departure in the idea of public pedagogy, and by using a close-up analysis of interview talk, the pedagogical agency the media may have on parenting is investigated. Drawing…

Interactive television is a type of distance education that uses streaming audio and video technology for real-time student-teacher interaction. Here, I discuss the design and logistics for developing a high school laboratory-based science course taught to students at a distance using interactive technologies. The goal is to share a successful…

Despite the prevailing vulgarity of its most notorious programming, television today has moved toward more traditional values. As a result of market realities, TV programming has become more diverse politically and thematically in recent years, and that has opened the door for traditional values to return to the nation's TV screens and even…

U.S. adults watch television (TV) for an average of 5 hours per day, an amount associated with increased obesity risk. Studies in children have found bedroom TV sets, which result in greater time spent by watching TV and shorter sleep durations, both of which increase a child's odds of becoming overweight. The authors examined associations between…

An effective physical education curriculum promotes the acquisition of skills, knowledge, and dispositions to encourage students to participate and learn. By developing skills, knowledge, and dispositions, students are provided with a greater opportunity to value participation in physical activity. The purpose of this article is to share a fun…

It has been suggested by researchers that educational television programmes may support the language and literacy development for children, especially those in immigrant families. In an immigrant family, many family characteristics appear to be related to educational television programme viewing of children at home, for example, parental…

For many communication scholars, critical pedagogy has proven a valuable teaching approach intended to strengthen democracy and empower the disenfranchised. However, the pedagogical practice becomes problematic when employed as a way to help the already enfranchised maintain their privileged position. This is the very problem posed by the…

It is increasingly common for an educational media project to span several media platforms (e.g., TV, Web, hands-on materials), assuming that the benefits of learning from multiple media extend beyond those gained from one medium alone. Yet research typically has investigated learning from a single medium in isolation. This paper reviews several…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to assess the use of "health" messages in food advertising in the USA which target children. The aim was to determine if these messages indicate the promotion of a healthful product or are a marketing tactic to promote unhealthy items, potentially undermining nutrition education efforts.…