Despite the image of the pernicious effects of mass media, media consumers are not passive receptors of media-generated beliefs and ideas. Educators can help adults become media literate by helping them decode, filter, and interpret the messages they read, see, and hear through content and context analysis. (SK)

Illustrates ways that the work of some communication scholars with resistant, oppositional, and critical audiences does not, however, endorse active public life. Attempts to realign the language of critical viewing with the goals of participatory democracy by suggesting qualities of critical viewing that are conducive to achieving and maintaining…

Assesses preschoolers' reactions to two suspenseful television scenes, one normal and one dream version. Finds viewing with an older sibling reduces preschoolers' ability to recognize the dream in the program. Finds that those who viewed with an older sibling liked the program more than those who watched alone. (NH)

Describes the collaborative listening-viewing guide, a lesson framework for promoting students' visual literacy. Notes that an important feature of the guide is the use of flexible grouping, where students are encouraged to share what they see and recall, to contribute their personal experiences, and to build more elaborated constructions of…

This article aims to help those who support the pivotal role of public education in promoting a critically informed and actively engaged democratic citizenry understand what the American Federation of Teachers (2006) inaccurately describes as "The John Stossel Agenda." In his "20/20 Report," "Stupid in America: How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids…

Teachers are coming to understand the value of using a student's interests, habits, and questions as a starting point for instruction. In this article, Skinner introduces "Teenage Addiction," a voluntary seventh-grade after-school writing/popular culture club that helped students view popular culture through a critical lens and then write about…

Highlighting many of the author's own experiences as an artist and an art instructor, this paper laments the problem of visual ignorance among contemporary children and proposes a course in basic visual literacy. Such a course would teach form and content as interactive and synergistic concepts rather than as separate attributes. Students could…

This document examines the key elements of Canadian artist Arthur Lismer's life (1885-1969) and depicts his philosophy as an art educator by excerpting his writings. In addition, the paper examines that philosophy against the framework of Barer-Stein's Universal Learning Process to emphasize the difference between "role internalizing"…

The film "Makiko's New World" offers U.S. high school students a unique glimpse into the latter part of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) in Japanese history. Students have the opportunity to experience the life of one Japanese woman, Makiko, during the Meiji Period through the "lens" of her diary. The teacher's guide was developed…

Identifies four motivations adolescents report for viewing graphic horror films: gore watching, thrill watching, independent watching, and problem watching. Argues that viewing motivations are predictors of responses to graphic horror. Finds that viewing motivations were related to viewers' cognitive and affective responses and a tendency to…

An increasingly visual culture is affecting work and training. Achievement of visual literacy means acquiring competence in critical analysis of visual images and in communicating through visual media. (SK)

Explores how teachers can help their students look for meaning in the visual media. Presents the theory that students object to looking for meaning in certain forms of visual media, because they dislike having their world complicated with unnecessary interpretive searching. Discusses the results of several class exercises adapted from David…

Uses the following National Council of Teachers of English Guidelines to show that media literacy works in the classroom and to show it works when incorporated into the conventional English classroom: (1) students need to construct meaning through different media; (2) students need to analyze their transactions with media texts; and (3) students…

Offers an overview of resource information in media literacy, including listings of key organizations; texts and resources for teaching on media literacy; comprehensive texts; sources of thematic curriculum units; and works that explore media genres. (SR)

Deconstructs the "kiddie porn" media frame used by the industry and mainstream media to characterize Klein's ad campaign. Extends scholarship on the construction of youth in the media, showing how the kiddie-porn frame produces and reproduces common-sense beliefs about the nature of youth. Suggests a metadiscourse encompassing the…