What Do We Learn From Media?

Explain to students that some media works try to teach you things. But we also learn things that are less obvious.

A good example is the educational show Sesame Street.

• If students aren’t familiar with this program, substitute with a similar show such as Bluey, The Magic Schoolbus, Ask the Storybots or Octonauts).

The makers of Sesame Street think as much about those things as they do about the more obvious lessons.

Other media works teach us things through the stories and characters, but the people who make them don’t always put that much thought into what they’re teaching.

Now explain to students that you are now going to look at how media works can send messages that their makers didn’t plan. These mostly come from what happens in stories, who is a main character and who isn’t, what things are rewarded or punished, and what things are included or left out of the media frame.

(Depending on students’ age, you may choose to do the following either as a whole-class activity or have students complete it in pairs or groups.)

Have students list five media works that they know well.

Each one can be any kind of media (a comic, a game, a TV show, etc.) so long as it tells a story and isn’t mostly intended as an educational program.

Have each student, pair or group choose one of the media works. Then have them access the student chapter What’s in Media? and complete the Structure Strip interactive activity for that media work:

Who are the main characters?

• Think about things like their profession, their age, race, language, disability, etc.

How do they solve problems?

• What ways of solving problems usually work and which don’t?

What things do they want (either personally or in their jobs)?

What things do they not want or try to avoid?

• You can also think about what characters who are unlikeable want. How are they different from what the main characters want?

Who or what is missing from the media work?

• What parts of the main characters’ lives or jobs do you see, and what parts do you not see?
• Are there groups of people that you never or almost never see?
• How similar or different are the people you see to people you know?

Have students share the results. What patterns do they notice?

Ask students if they have done a similar activity before. If so, what might have changed since they did so?

When students have finished, have them reflect on things they have learned from media works. Which things were obvious (like learning from a science show or documentary) and which things were less obvious, like the examples we’ve talked about in this lesson? You can have them write a few sentences or use the Reflection Recorder.