Center on Media and Child Health

What I Learned at the CCFC Summit

On Friday, I presented at the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood's Annual Summit.  My talk about research on media and sex was well-attended and lead to some great discussion among participants. 

I wanted to post about a few resources I became aware of through the Summit and pass them on to CMCH blog readers, since you may also be interested:

• Sarah Grimes, a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, presented her work on interactive websites and Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) for kids.  Turns out she has a blog about digital games and other technologies for children: Gamine Expedition
• In the main gathering area, there was an exhibit titled "Buy Me Something" by the talented photographer Nat Ward, who aims for these images to "challenge people to consider how toys and the mechanisms that facilitate their sale inform and reproduce a distinct set of culturally-defined values."  Click the arrow on the bottom right to see more images:  Buy Me Something
• The Media Education Foundation has a new video coming out in Fall 2008 about the commercialization of childhood.  CMCH Director Dr. Michael Rich makes an appearance around minute 3:37 in the trailer they previewed at the Summit: Consuming Kids

 

4th Grade Peace Wall Includes Non-Violent Media

Over April vacation, teacher Kathy Jenkins watched the news about the Virginia Tech shooting and knew that her 4th grade students would be talking about it when they returned to school.  She came up with the concept of a "Wall of Peace" where students could creatively express their reactions to the shooting and develop plans for non-violence. 

One component of the Wall of Peace was a series of lists of non-violent media:

• Non-violent video games
• Non-violent movies
• Non-violent songs

What did the kids think of the project?

Our learning from the Peace Wall will guide us through a non-violent life, and we can all teach peace. The bottom line is that we are helping people understand peace, help live a life without violence, and show that even kids can represent peace.

Kathy Jenkins has taken an important step in media literacy by encouraging her students to think about the violence they see and hear in popular culture.

• Learn more about media literacy
• See ideas for other media literacy lesson plans

Guest Blogger: Media Literacy in K-12 Schools

The following was written by Guest Blogger Frank Baker, a Media Education Consultant:

A few weeks back, while speaking to an elementary school about the influence of toy advertising, a fifth-grader raised her hand and asked: "Mr. Baker, what does deceptive mean?"  I had used that adjective to describe specific techniques used by the people who create commercial messages. I went on to define it for her and urged her teachers to add that word to their ever-growing vocabulary list.

The techniques of persuasion in advertising are just one element in teaching media literacy to our young people. In 1999, in a partnership with Rutgers University media professor Robert Kubey, we scoured all 50 state's teaching standards, finding elements of media literacy in three major curriculum areas: English/Language Arts, Social Studies/History, and Health.

The good news is that elements of media literacy are in most states' standards. The bad news is that media literacy is not being taught. Most teachers have not received any formal training in how to integrate critical thinking and viewing about media messages. Most school libraries have little in the way of texts for teachers or students.

The media are attractive to young people; they watch, listen to, and even wear media. Yet, the American education system is, for the most part, blind to the fact that media are languages which need to be taught and understood too.  For those who want to know more, I hope you will log onto the Media Literacy Clearinghouse website.

• Visit the website Media Literacy Clearinghouse
• Contact Frank
• Contact CMCH about being a Guest Blogger

Fun Resources for Body Image Media Mastery

Anyone who compares themselves to celebrities and models always falls short.  No one can live up to the flawless images in advertising or on the red carpet.  On top of having an entire staff of stylists ready to make them look good, photos are often digitally retouched for advertisements and magazines. 

Next week, CMCH will be partnering with TeamUp Marblehead to speak to 7th and 8th grade students about how media affect body image.  In our presentations, we use these fun resources to give students a "behind the scenes" look at how ads and magazine photos are altered to present an image of perfection:

• Greg Apodaca's Portfolio - roll over the picture to see how digital retouching makes this woman have a smaller waist, a larger chest, clearer skin, a smaller belly button, and no wrinkles.


• Fluid Effect - click on Portfolio, then Before & After to see how these photos are changed so that people appear flawless.


• This video shows how a woman is transformed from regular person to billboard ad: