The impact of mass media on public images of teachers and students is considered in a dialogue between two educational and mass media researchers. Stereotypes in films, such as teacher-savior and student-failure, and abundant reports about Latino dropout rates and low academic achievement impact teachers and the public, who accept negative images…

Illustrates reader-response theory by discussing a piece of Chinese art, "A Book from the Sky." Examines the relationship between and among viewer, text or artwork, and artist; and attempts to determine the meanings viewers of different ages, genders, ethnicity, and professions construct in reaction to the work of art and to postmodern…

Focuses on how to utilize films and television documents and incorporate analysis of these materials within the history classroom. Describes an approach that is applied to traditional historical documents. Explains that teachers must provide background materials to encourage critical analysis. (CMK)

Dutch replication of Bybee, Robinson and Turow's 1982 study of parental influence on television viewing by children between 3 and 18 years old found 3 distinct parental models: restrictive, evaluative, and unfocused guidance. Parental attitudes toward television and its effects on children were found to be important determinants in the type of…

Discusses the effect of the mass media, particularly the influence of violence and sex, on adolescents, noting the paucity of research on the subject. The article recommends a compromise between censorship and free expression. It examines how teachers and parents can help by discussing media messages with students. (SM)

This paper offers a comparative analysis of three television news programs aimed at children: the BBC's "Newsround," Nickelodeon's "Nick News," and "Channel One News." Focuses on implicit assumptions about the child viewer, and on the ways in which these are manifested in the selection and framing of content and in…

Focuses on ways in which a group of high school students responded to fine art and other forms of visual culture, such as advertising images, cartoons, and propaganda posters. Discusses three emergent themes in student responses: (1) purposes of imagery; (2) interpretation of images; and (3) relationships among images. (DSK)

Argues that middle-school social-studies educators should teach students skills to deal with the tremendous power of television in their lives. Discusses television viewing, television as a "good-bad" information source, and its connection to the middle-school curriculum. Discusses 11 media literacy activities that can be integrated into…

Discusses a high school unit involving the cartoon characters "Beavis" and "Butt-head." Examines how social values and social conflicts affect and mirror language use. Describes Beavis and Butt-head projects, and objections to the unit. Argues that schools must embrace nonprint texts to help students become skilled, literate,…

Contributes to research regarding the impact of news media on presidential elections. Performs a content analysis of photographs of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in five major newspapers. Rejects the conclusions of "liberal bias" in the press coverage of presidential campaigns, arguing instead for the presence of a strategic bias benefitting…

Integrating "The West Wing" in public relations courses can effectively dramatize the concrete and abstract dimensions of public relations. In turn, students see public relations in action (albeit fictionally so) and learn much about it through structured lessons. From individual writing assignments about situations in "The West Wing," to the…

An eight-year-old boy, Adrian, draws subject matter and formats for his writing from a new, digital medium: the video game. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)

This paper presents evidence for the positive impact of television on 1,500 children, aged 6 to 16 years old, specifically concerning their conceptions of beauty. The role of television was repeatedly mentioned by the subjects although it was not the primary research goal of the researcher. Examples of children's descriptions of beauty as derived…

Noting that media literacy education is mandated in almost every developed country in the world except the United States, this paper introduces the concept of media literacy education and presents a 32-item annotated bibliography on media literacy education. The paper defines media literacy as the ability to access, decode, analyze, evaluate, and…

Objects are one way of understanding the world. This teacher's guide offers a method of analyzing objects that, once understood, can be applied in the classroom, on site, or in museums and galleries. Focus is upon artifacts rather than natural objects. Cross-curricular applications and teaching techniques are given. Sample exercises, discussion…