Unmotivated, underachieving students pose a huge challenge for teachers. One way to motivate and stimulate student interest in a topic is to use humor. Humor can help students make new connections in learning and improves retention of information (Garner 2006). In this article, the authors describe how they integrated art and literature with…

This paper discusses young Korean immigrant girls' understanding of American popular culture in a small-scale qualitative study in order to disclose young American immigrant girls' perspectives on such culture. In particular, this paper explores how these Korean girls (age five to eight) perceive female body images in American popular culture -…

Picture book reading is a very common form of interaction between parents and very young children. Here we explore to what extent young children transfer novel information between picture books and the real world. We report that 15- and 18-month-olds can extend newly learned labels both from pictures to objects and from objects to pictures.…

As a middle school librarian in Austin, Texas, the author has been running weekly book clubs for years, which covered many genres that appeal to a wide cross section of kids. When approached by a group of Latino boys from low-income families, the author was inspired to run a Bluford High book club for reluctant readers. The author shares how she…

This study empirically examines the instructional value of online video lectures--videos that a course's instructor prepares to supplement classroom or online-broadcast lectures. The study examines data from a classroom course, where the videos have a slower, more step-by-step lecture style than the classroom lectures; student use of videos is…

Analyzed 223 family cartoons from "Saturday Evening Post" (1924 to 1944) to examine extent to which parent figures were depicted as incompetent. Findings suggest shift in 1930s and early 1940s in how fathers were viewed. Concludes that image of U.S. father has changed at least twice in twentieth century and that pattern of change is one of…

This book offers ideas that secondary teachers, university content faculty, and teacher educators can use to challenge traditional literacy practices and demonstrate creative, innovative ways of incorporating new literacies into the classroom, all within a strong theoretical framework. Teachers are trying to catch up to the new challenges of the…

Elementary school science is an often-neglected subject in the current literacy-focused political atmosphere. However, reading informational trade books about science in literacy class can help children increase their science knowledge. Incorporating humor through content-related cartoons is an effective way to engage students in deeper…

Two experiments investigated whether motion metaphors for time affected the perception of spatial motion. Participants read sentences either about literal motion through space or metaphorical motion through time written from either the ego-moving or object-moving perspective. Each sentence was followed by a cartoon clip. Smiley-moving clips showed…

The normal development of humor in children has been well documented with a predictable course that is tied to social, cognitive, and linguistic development in children. This study explored humor comprehension in children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). Children with NVLD were compared with children with reading disabilities and a…

"Dora the Explorer" is a twenty-three-minute television program for preschoolers viewed by millions every day in many countries. These programs are also marketed as videotapes and DVDs. This seven-year-old Latina, bilingual cartoon character teaches many things by interacting with the young viewers. On every program Dora and friends have to go…

Oregon State University, a land-grant institution with an enrollment of almost 20,000, has been shaken by controversies over both blackface and a noose in the past year. The incidents here, however, were not seen as clear-cut expressions of racial animus, for which specific people should be held accountable, so much as acts of ignorance and…

Three- to six-year-old children (n=28) and adults (n=46) participated in a two-dimensional search task that included geometry and feature conditions. During each of 24 trials, participants watched as a cartoon character hid behind one of three landmarks arranged in a triangle on a computer screen. The landmarks and character then disappeared and…

Based on a four-year study, "Manga High" explores the convergence of literacy, creativity, social development, and personal identity in one of New York City's largest high schools. Since 2004, students at Martin Luther King, Jr., High School in Manhattan have been creating manga--Japanese comic books. They write the stories, design the…