Curated OER
Spin and Bias in the Media
Students compare different types of media. In this media comparison lesson, students will assess the where all types of media gets its information by viewing a video of a news story and critiquing it.
Curated OER
Bias and Crime in Media
Critical thinking and social justice are central themes for this resource on bias and crime in media. The class views and discusses an incisive PSA that highlights assumptions based on race. Small groups read newspaper opinion pieces...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Analyzing Gender Stereotypes in Media
Why might toy advertisers use gender stereotypes to sell their products? Young people think critically about media messages and its role in gender stereotyping with a thought-provoking activity.
Curated OER
News Journalism Across the Media: Introduction
Although students are aware of news as information that influences their perceptions of the world, they are often unaware of the various ways to present that information. Encourage them to investigate, discuss, analyze and make valuable...
Learning for Justice
Beauty is Skin Deep
If you are in need of a lesson on tolerance or the impact of media, this plan could be useful. The class begins with a brainstorming session in which they reflect on their own experiences with bias based on appearance. Next, they...
Curated OER
News Coverage
Students compare and contrast methods of media coverage. For this media awareness lesson, students keep track of news regarding a world or national issue for the period of 1 week. Students collaborate to describe the type of coverage...
Curated OER
Talk Shows
Eighth graders are exposed to different types of media in order to investigate the tendency of being exposed to a set of values that run contrary to conservative values. They role play a television program in order to communicate the...
Teaching Tolerance
Listen Up! PSA for Change
Challenge scholars to speak up about a topic by creating a public service announcement or social media blitz about an issue they feel passionate about. Have them research their issues, then decide the best way to take their messages to...
Facing History and Ourselves
Free Press Makes Democracy Work
A unit study of the importance of a free press in a democracy begins with class members listening to a podcast featuring two journalists, one from a United States public radio station and one from Capetown, South Africa. The lesson,...
Curated OER
Can I Be Swayed?
Students identify loaded words and examples of bias in print media. They describe how media can be used to manipulate public opinion. Students identify examples of interest groups that use media to sway public opinion in order to impact...
Curated OER
"The Merchants of Cool"
Why are so many advertisements geared towards the teenage population? Watch a video with your class (link included), and have them fill out the attached listening guide. Then discuss persuasion, presenting biased information, and where...
Curated OER
Parliamentary Newsroom : Developing Media Literacy
Students explain and examine the selection, development, sources, transmission and impact of news on the public. They write a brief essay on the topic: "The Public Must Be Critical In Their Assessment of the News Before Drawing...
Curated OER
Evaluating Web Sites for Bias
Students become familiar with checklist they use to evaluate Web content for bias. They use the checklist to evaluate two Web sites from very different sources.
Curated OER
World Media: Comparison of Iraq War Accounts
Students are introduced to the concept of news/media bias from region to region. Upon reading differing articles, students answer source questions on the structure/content of each article.
Newseum
Reporting Part III: Staying Objective
The third and final lesson in the Reporting series tests young journalists' ability to be objective in reporting contentious topics. After brainstorming a list of contentious topics that interest them, the class selects one, and...
Curated OER
Looking for Trouble - Using the Internet to Research Structured Controversy
Discuss controversial issues with your charges. More importantly, discuss how you have to research both sides of a controversy before taking a stance. In groups, middle schoolers research the controversial issue of dog sled racing. They...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Campaign Photo Analysis
It's the art of the image! As part of a study of the 2020 Presidential race, groups analyze an image of a candidate, first from an objective point of view and then subjectively. They then prepare a presentation detailing what they...
C-SPAN
Polling and Public Opinion
Most people are eager to offer their opinions about topics of interest, but what's the most effective way to collect and assess these opinions as a matter of fact? High schoolers learn about the history of polling, as well as the...
Curated OER
What Influences Our Perception of Gender Roles?
Students research gender equity and the media. In this gender equity instructional activity, students evaluate the influence of various media on both individuals and society. Students discuss examples of media that portray...
Curated OER
Exploring Racism in America
Students compare racism today to racism that existed during the nineteenth century. As a field research project, students individually keep track of examples of racism, biases, and stereotypes illustrated throughout the US media over a...
Curated OER
A Picture is Worth How Many (unfiltered) Words?
Students explore Google search engine in and out of China, examine events surrounding confrontation at Tiananmen Square between Chinese forces and the Tank Man, and discuss how censorship affects what the media reports and what the...
Curated OER
Empowered Barbie
Students access prior knowledge of vocabulary on feminism and psychoanalytic theory, and gender schema. In this Empowered Barbie instructional activity, students recreate a Barbie doll. Students write a reflection on how they...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Newsletter
What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...
Curated OER
The Media
Students explore political advertising. They discuss what informed voters should know about upcoming elections and identify the four main types of ads and view a video to identify the types of ads. Evaluating the ads, they identify...