Education Commons^™

Pre-Service Training On Media Education For Teachers At Czech Universities, Karolína Mackenzie

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The study shows the content of future teachers’ education and their needs to teach media education in their future practice. The preparation of future teachers within the faculties of education varies considerably across Europe, as does the level of teaching in primary and secondary schools. In the Czech Republic, media education is a cross-cutting topic in primary and some types of secondary schools and is rather rarely found in the university training of future teachers. The research shows the areas in which future teachers were prepared in their teacher training, their sense of readiness to teach and their needs in …

Media Literacy Policy In Morocco: A Strategic Milestone Missing, Abderrahim Chalfaouat, Karim Essoufi

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In the digital age, diverse walks of human life have reconfigured profoundly. In the Moroccan society, digitalisation plans and the skyrocketing numbers of internet users necessitate coping literacy policies. While several community initiatives have been taken to improve the quality of media literacy, they, as bottom-up efforts, cannot suffice to meet the needs of the whole Moroccan population. Rather, the absence of a central, nationwide, cross-sectoral media literacy policy significantly challenges the effective coordination of official strategies and community initiatives in media education. This article investigates current practices in media literacy in Morocco. Using document analysis, it delves into data …

Popular Music Media Literacy: A Pilot Study, Chrysalis L. Wright, Reilly Branch, Lesley-Anne Ey, K. Megan Hopper, Wayne Warburton

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The current study pilot tested a popular music media literacy website that was developed based on the final report of the APA Division 46 Task Force on the Sexualization of Popular Music (2018). The study hypothesized that popular music media literacy education would produce significant differences between the baseline assessment and post-literacy assessment for outcomes related to music reflecting real life, viewing the self as similar to music portrayals, music skepticism, level of engagement with music, and self-reported self-esteem. It was also hypothesized that participants would report favorable attitudes regarding the popular music media literacy website being tested. Participants included …

The Importance Of Parent-Teacher Communication And Collaboration And How To Enhance Them For Various Types Of Families, Madeleine O'Neil

Senior Honors Projects

An educator is defined as someone who provides instruction to others. What this definition does not include is how the role of a teacher or educator goes far beyond merely providing instructions and teaching others. In order to be effective, teachers must learn how to adequately communicate and collaborate with their students, other education professionals, and families. Especially in the education field, teachers must learn how to communicate and collaborate with each student’s family to help create positive, productive, and beneficial professional relationships.

Communication should be ongoing and should be carried out in a manner that works for both the …

Children's Book On Pragmatics, Emily Conners

Senior Honors Projects

Pragmatics of communication is the use of social language skills when communicating with others. These skills are important in learning how to appropriately communicate and in building relationships. This is one area of communication that children can have difficulties with when they are developing language skills.

This children’s book focuses on one pragmatic skill learned during development, using language to request permission, with the goal of teaching children aged two to five about its importance. I used my background knowledge in pragmatics and child development to write a story about a boy named Jacob that struggles to ask his Grandpa …

Promoting The Healthy Development Of All Adolescents Through An Equity Lens: Continuing Education For Secondary-Level Educators, Isabella Simone

Senior Honors Projects

American schools, as an institution, have a mission to educate society’s youth in a way that is characterized by, and promotes, equity regarding educational access, opportunities, and outcomes. Doing so promises to support the individual growth and development of all students. Unfortunately, high school students face challenges regarding healthy development — academic, social, and identity-based — during the transition from childhood to adulthood. These challenges include navigating their identity development, achieving academic success, managing school and family demands, and planning for their futures. Barriers to the successful achievement of these challenges include risk factors associated with family relationships, financial standing, …

Make Time For Movement: 5-Minute Exercise Breaks In The Classroom, Catherine O'Donnell

Senior Honors Projects

Picture yourself back in elementary school. Have you ever struggled to finish an assignment no matter how hard you tried? You may have felt antsy, unfocused, or completely exhausted from the constant thinking and brain power it takes to complete a full six hour school day. What could you have done to regain focus and energy to continue learning? An exercise break! As an Elementary Education major and certified Group Exercise fitness instructor, I aspire to combine my passion for teaching and fitness by bringing exercise into the classroom. For my project, I have designed 5-minute movement breaks that follow …

News Media Literacy Challenges And Opportunities For Australian School Students And Teachers In The Age Of Platforms, Jocelyn Nettlefold, Kathleen Williams

Journal of Media Literacy Education

News media literacy competencies and motivation in teachers are critical to media education initiatives. This article draws on a survey of 97 primary and secondary school teachers conducted as part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and University of Tasmania’s national Media Literacy Project in 2018. The data reveals challenges in the implementation of media literacy in classrooms, highlighting a generational divide linked to Australians’ rising consumption of news from digital sources and social media platforms. While teachers overwhelmingly say critical thinking about media is very important for students, nearly a quarter of these teachers are not engaging with news stories …

A Story Told, Carly Caldarella

Senior Honors Projects

How do we educate our future generations about topics that are difficult to discuss? Oftentimes, children ask us questions that make us think, "How do I respond to this?" It is essential for our young generations to understand the history of racism, its present manifestations, and solutions and methods of action in order for a bright and revolutionary future. It is not always a simple task for children to comprehend such intricate topics. However, through text and pictures in storybooks, children can better grasp the concepts of such subject matter. "A Story Told" shares the story of young children in …

Data Literacy On The Road: Setting Up A Large-Scale Data Literacy Initiative In The Databuzz Project, Tom Seymoens, Leo Van Audenhove, Wendy Van Den Broeck, Ilse Mariën

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper presents the DataBuzz Project. DataBuzz is a high-tech, mobile educational lab, which is housed in a 13-meter electric bus. Its specific goal is to increase the data literacy of different segments of society in the Brussels region through inclusive and participatory games and workshops. In this paper, we will explore how to carry out practical data literacy initiatives geared to the general public. We discuss the different interactive workshops, which have been specifically developed for DataBuzz. We highlight the background, design choices, and execution of this large-scale data literacy initiative. We describe the factors that need …

Data Literacy And Education: Introduction And The Challenges For Our Field, Leo Van Audenhove, Wendy Van Den Broeck, Ilse Mariën

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Data literacy is a hot topic, which is currently discussed in many different fields from open data initiatives, statistics, computer societies, coding initiatives, and beyond. The resulting literature is inspiring but not always satisfying from the perspective of the media literacy scholarly field. The goals behind data literacy are often instrumental and utilitarian in the function of job-related skills or open data initiatives. We hope that this special issue will contribute to a broader discussion about data literacy. In this introductory essay we provide an overarching introduction, highlighting some of the main themes, questions, issues, and insights addressed in …

Honest Sex Education Advocacy, Kyleigh Richard

Senior Honors Projects

It is imperative that children and teens receive honest and well researched information when they are being taught sex education, particularly so they learn to care about their sexual health and protect their own bodies.

In order to learn where there are gaps or insufficiencies in this sex education in the state of Rhode Island, twenty superintendents from public schools across the state were contacted by email and phone and asked to share their curriculum and resources. Of the eight that supplied their school curriculums, I found three points I felt were deficient in sex education: (1) human anatomy is …

Education, Enterprise Capitalism, And Equity Challenges: The Continuing Relevance Of The Correspondence Principle In Japan, Masaaki Takemura

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This paper revisits the correspondence principle of Bowles and Gintis (1976) – which refers to the mutual mimicking of the capitalist hierarchy in the workplace and the school. The Bowles-Gintis model still appears to be working in the context of schooling in Japan. In the international comparative educational assessment called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), created by OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the association of advanced democratic nations), Japanese students achieve better results than most countries. Japanese students excel in PISA performance, especially in mathematics. Such excellence, however, has negative correlations with students’ creativity, positive attitudes, and …

Elevating The Environment Through Artistic Expression, Becky Gumbrewicz

Senior Honors Projects

REBECCA GUMBREWICZ (Environmental Science and Management)

Elevating the Environment Through Artistic Expression

Sponsor: Judith Swift (Communication Studies, Coastal Institute)

Currently there are multiple areas of environmental concern that require not only scientific research but increased public awareness in order to motivate further action toward preservation of our environment or remediation of human impacts. To promote a broader perspective of the most effective ways to communicate science, this project offers the culmination of an environmentally-focused art showcase of student interpretations of science that one could posit elevated public perception of the environment. An integral part of conducting research is understanding how …

Charter School Performance In Rhode Island, Lena Vye

Senior Honors Projects

In the last few decades, there has been considerable debate over whether or not charter schools are beneficial to the American education system. Charter schools are given government funding, but they have independence from the established educational system. Charter school supporters argue that increased autonomy and innovation in teaching, as well as competition between schools, improves the quality of education. Opponents of charter schools argue that charter schools are not more effective than public schools. However, the research is mixed: some studies suggest charter schools perform better, some suggest they perform similarly, and some suggest that they perform worse than …

Introduction To Feminism And The Academy Today: A Graduate Forum, Kara Watts, Heather Turcotte

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Using Virtual Exchange To Advance Media Literacy Competencies Through Analysis Of Contemporary Propaganda, Renee Hobbs, Christian Seyferth-Zapf, Silke Grafe

Journal of Media Literacy Education

With the rise of so-called fake news as a global phenomenon, interest in propaganda analysis has advanced along with the recognition of the fundamentally social process of interpretation. In this essay, we explore the use of cross-national dialogue among German and American undergraduate students who are seeking to better understand how media messages are interpreted and how they inform and guide the civic actions of citizens. We describe and analyze five lessons that used a virtual exchange using a variety of digital media platforms, texts and technologies to support the cross-national study of contemporary propaganda. We observed that cross-national dialogue …

Radio Waves And Curriculum Pathways: Jamaican “At Risk” Learners Construct Media, Paulette J. Feraria

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper explores radio play as an alternative space for learning language and literacy for Jamaican students labelled as ‘at-risk’ learners. Through the creation of a make-believe radio station in the classroom, students developed oral language skills as a necessary precursor for social literacy. They connected reading and writing activities and the simulated classroom radio station promoted the development of learners’ self-efficacy. The students’ use of the learning space as newscasters, hosts, writers and reporters revealed that those who took risks in learning language and literacy in these spaces subverted the label of ‘at-risk-learners’ and repositioned themselves as risk-takers in …

Incorporating Multiple Intelligences Within Instructional Strategies, Hannah Smith

Senior Honors Projects

Teachers know there are many different ways to include students’ intellectual strengths within their daily instruction. Howard Gardner (1983) proposed the idea of multiple intelligences to broaden the scope of an individual’s potential beyond simply an IQ measure. Gardner originally grouped the broad range of human abilities into eight comprehensive categories, or in other words multiple intelligences (MIs) including: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Multiple intelligences are used to present and assess students’ intellectual abilities in a variety of ways. This paper summarizes my study on how catering towards students’ measured MIs influence their academic engagement. …

Women In Science: A Course, Krystyna Krupinski

Senior Honors Projects

Ask any student to name five women who have made advancements in scientific fields and most likely they will not be able to name more than two. With a lack of courses highlighting women scientists’ achievements, this lack of knowledge is hardly surprising I am addressing this issue in my work. Through the researching of scientific advancements made by women, I have proposed a method to teach students about these scientists so names like Johnson, Franklin, and Curie become as commonplace as Einstein, Hawking, and Bohr. Frequently in science classes in middle schools and high schools, the focus is only …

What Do You Use Mobile Phones For? A Creative Method Of Thematic Drawing With Adolescents In Rural China, Jiachun Hong

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study sets out to explore Chinese adolescents’ subjectivities toward the use of mobile phones, and reveal the dynamic relationship among students, parents, and school concerning mobile phone usage in rural China. Twenty-one high school students were recruited, and asked to draw a painting that expresses their perceptions of mobile phones in relation to family and school life. After analyzing the thematic drawings and their self-explanations upon the drawings, several themes arise: the mobile phone as a bridge of love, as an extension of the home, as an iron cage, as the blasting fuse of family conflicts, and as a …

Retention Effects Of An Experiential Pedagogical Approach, Kelsea E. Adams

Senior Honors Projects

The quality and nature of delivery of education, especially at the K12 level is a major focus of the education reform movement. As an aspiring teacher, I am interested in developing a personal understanding of the efficacy of different modes of delivery. A large body of studies has examined the differences between experiential learning versus traditional classroom learning as well as effects on student retention. Traditional classroom learning involves literary texts, PowerPoint presentations and teacher-centered learning. In contrast, experiential learning is a hands-on, real world experience that provides students with an environment to expand their critical thinking skills and apply …

Web-Based Media Literacy To Prevent Tobacco Use Among High School Students, Jane S. Phelps-Tschang, Elizabeth Miller, Kristen R. Rice, Brian A. Primack

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Facilitator-led smoking media literacy (SML) programs have improved media literacy and reduced intention to smoke. However, these programs face limitations including high costs and barriers to standardization. We examined the efficacy of a Web-based media literacy program in improving smoking media literacy skills among adolescents. Sixty-six 9th grade students participated in a Web-based SML tobacco education program based on health behavior theory. Pre- and post-test assessments demonstrated statistically significant changes in the primary outcome of total SML as well as each of the individual SML items. However, there were inconsistent changes in other theory-based outcomes including attitudes and normative beliefs.

Book Review: Children, Film And Literacy, Yonty Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Identifying The Education Needs And Conveying Related Information On Nutrition Topics For Pre-School Age Children By Educating Parents Through Writing And Media Communication., Melissa E. Lichtman

Senior Honors Projects

As nutrition topics continue to gain media attention the general public is increasingly exposed to nutrition recommendations. The mass communication of health information presents increased education opportunity to promote implementation of healthy habits. In contrast, this increased presence also presents a risk of increased communication of information unsupported by scientific evidence. As these unreliable recommendations are communicated with frequency through popular sources it is the responsibility of healthcare professionals to provide the public with accurate and scientifically supported information. This information must be presented in a clear and appealing way in order to gain the attention of the public, helping …

Pairing Technology With Effective Literacy Strategies, Alexis L. Carlson

Senior Honors Projects

School districts and policy makers have pushed schools toward tomorrow, without preparing them for today. Regardless of whether a district decides to spend thousands of dollars becoming a 1-1 school (i.e. one device per one student), or save money by instituting a bring your own device policy (B.Y.O.D), the results are the same. Students and teachers have been thrown into a digital world without first receiving training on personal and professional use of technology. Though I originally set out to combine literacy strategies and technology, I realized I needed to first build own my personal knowledge based on education technologies …

The Hyperreality Of Daniel Boorstin, Stephanie L. Viens

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Early media theorists can help us to link the past and present of media literacy to pose new questions and gain new knowledge. Historian, author and Librarian on Congress Daniel Boorstin (1914 – 2004) played an important role in increasing public awareness of the constructed nature of media representations. Connections are explored between constructed reality, technological advances, media literacy education, and the current work of media scholar Douglas Rushkoff on presentist society. Daniel Boorstin helped recognize the changing nature of knowledge in an image-saturated environment and influenced a new generation of theorists, scholars and educators who have advanced the …

Teaching About Propaganda: An Examination Of The Historical Roots Of Media Literacy, Renee Hobbs, Sandra Mcgee

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Contemporary propaganda is ubiquitous in our culture today as public relations and marketing efforts have become core dimensions of the contemporary communication system, affecting all forms of personal, social and public expression. To examine the origins of teaching and learning about propaganda, we examine some instructional materials produced in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA), which popularized an early form of media literacy that promoted critical analysis in responding to propaganda in mass communication, including in radio, film and newspapers. They developed study guides and distributed them widely, popularizing concepts from classical rhetoric and expressing them in …

Cinekyd: Exploring The Origins Of Youth Media Production, Renee Hobbs, David Cooper Moore

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Competency-Based Education In Public High Schools, Angus M. Cantwell

Senior Honors Projects

Recent government-backed programs such as Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind have increased competition in schools in an effort to improve student and teacher performance. However, these programs have not had as drastic an impact as many had hoped, and the United States continues to toil in the middle of the pack educationally when compared with the rest of the world.

As many students have continued to struggle in school, many different ideas have been introduced into different levels of the education system in an attempt to raise scores and boost performance. One such idea is competency-based …