This study discusses a visual communications project designed to develop activities to promote visual literacy at the elementary and secondary school levels. The project has four phases: (1) perception of basic forms in the environment, what these forms represent, and how they inter-relate; (2) discovery and communication of more complex…

This bibliography is a compilation of (1) readings used in courses in communications in several major universities in the United States and (2) items recommended by the faculty of the School of Communications at the University of Texas at Austin. This work is an expanded version of the one appearing in the "Journal of Communication"…

Analyzes the problems and possibilities of electronic media and their educational implications. Suggests resources for designing a curriculum framework to include visual and auditory literacy skills. (RL)

Several schools of thought regarding media criticism, derived from diverse disciplines and literary sources, have emerged during the last decade. To examine their application to the visual communication media arts such as film and television, this paper: (1) reviews the literature of media criticism; (2) discusses various approaches to visual…

This book argues that developing insight into the ordinary is a major part of education. Each of the five chapters contains ideas and activities designed to help students and teachers sharpen their perception of their day-to-day physical and social environment. "Survival Skills in a Consumer Society" examines the way people are persuaded to…

A strategy for teaching the liberal arts in collegs should include the study of American culture through the mass media as a major component. In an age of exploitative media messages and low audiovisual literacy on the part of the mass of media consumers, liberal education must be altered to include training in sophisticated media consumption.…

In this survey history of the documentary or nonfiction cinema, major emphasis is placed upon John Grierson and the British documentary movement as exemplary of the factual films with goals of social improvement and on Robert Flaherty, whose movement stressed poetic or humanistic nonfiction film treatment. Newsreels and current trends in…

Contends that the increasingly central role of imagery in contemporary society calls for the development of a pedagogy emphasizing critical media literacy. Using examples from print advertisements for cigarettes, argues the need for cognitive competencies to withstand the onslaught of media messages, empowering individuals to become autonomous,…

This guide aims to help students sharpen powers of observation, develop the skills and habits of perceptive watching, and discover complex aspects of film art. Organized in 16 chapters, the text, which focuses on narrative film, discusses film analysis in chapter 1 and establishes a foundation for understanding theme and story in chapters 2 and 3.…

This paper examines the dual coding hypothesis, a model of the coding of visual and textual information, from the perspective of a mass media professional, such as a teacher, interested in accurately presenting both visual and textual material to a mass audience (i.e., students). It offers an extension to the theory, based upon the various skill…

Over 350 surveys were distributed to public and private elementary and secondary school teachers to assess the current state of media education and to determine if changes have occurred given the increase in educator awareness of media education benefits, media literacy advocacy groups, media education resources, and changes in technology.…

Since visual knowledge of the specialties within graphics and photography is difficult to pinpoint because it is nonverbal and intuitive, graphics educators fall back on teaching technical expertise--the procedures and equipment used for newspapers, magazines, and television stations. For centuries visual knowledge was the realm of the unlettered,…

The premise of this 14 week anthropology course is that endeavors by the mass media should be understood as cultural enterprises. Students will examine the means by which anthropologists, photographers, filmmakers, writers, new reporters or other observers translate their observations of another culture to members of their own culture. The Eskimo…

This book is a critical, genre study of surrealist films including a general discussion of the backgrounds, influences, and overall traits of surrealism as a mode of artistic response to an absurdist world. Citing the impetus of Jacques Vache and Andre Breton as the originators of surrealism, the work expands upon the themes of fractured realism…

Focused on early childhood development, this "UNICEF Intercom" asserts that developmental programs should aim to give children a fair chance at growth beyond survival. First presented are moral, scientific, social equity, economic, population, and programatic arguments for looking beyond the fundamental objective of saving young lives.…