Suggests that teaching students the processes of video programing helps them become more intelligent video consumers and allows them to use the technology as an extension of themselves by creating art through video. Discusses the use of lighting, sound, and editing in the creative process. (KO)

Assesses effectiveness of two desensitization strategies for reducing children's emotional reactions to mass media. Examines children having passive exposure, modeled exposure, or no exposure to lizards before watching a horror movie involving lizards. Finds that modeled exposure decreases emotional reactions and negative interpretations, whereas…

Identifies how Americans viewed twentieth-century wars metaphorically as extensions of earlier frontier experience. Traces "social functions" of those metaphors which have become, from an ethical perspective, tragic not only because of their false analogies but also for their lack of worth when compared to other, more responsible…

Trends and cultural differences are examined in the history of the novel in France and the United States since 1906. These trends and cultural differences are proposed as a way of teaching American culture. (MSE)

Investigated how three Spanish-speaking children, enrolled in a bilingual preschool, used Spanish and English with each other. Results indicated that exposure to English books and popular cultural materials enabled them to use English readily and easily but that their use of English during play superceded their use of Spanish, suggesting the…

Barbie is presented as the perfect cultural site for interrogating margins, borders, and contradictions in females' lives. This article illuminates such issues by interrogating the "cumulative cultural text of Barbie." Texts criticized are: Barbie collector cards; "Barbie" and "Barbie Fashion" comic books;…

Demonstrates ways in which students can use popular media sources for the purpose of research in rhetorical and cultural study. States that students come away with a better understanding of how the media usually only take one side or the other. (PA)

Presents a plan for teaching historiography through analysis of baseball cards. Explains that students can learn about society, culture, discrimination, and inference. Reports that the lesson increased student interest, motivation, and sensitivity to the importance of historical sources. (DK)

Describes teaching method in which a person of the day is featured on a calendar and used as the basis of that day's social studies class. Explains that the strategy introduces authors, artists, inventors, and others and provides matching activities. Suggests the method can incorporate aspects of cultural literacy into social studies, fine arts,…

Discusses a case study of how experienced social studies teachers convey the concepts that comprise the curriculum. Reports that researchers observed 3 teachers for 20 hours each. Describes a preference among the teachers for anthropomorphic, familial, and popular culture references. Explains that visual representations were used only as passing…

Describes a college course on the sociology of sport, in which students reflect on their own experiences and practices in sport, engage in critical analysis of the taken-for-granted values and assumptions associated with sport, and do construct analysis and deconstruction of televised sport as it promotes certain interests and marginalizes others.…

Addresses tendencies to force popular music into existing school music program formats, rather than include it as a form with its own musical integrity and authenticity. Urges music teachers not to dismiss popular music or turn it into elevator music. (CH)

Outlines a writing assignment for first-year composition students in which they choose a popular song and explicate its meaning both through prose and in a classroom presentation. Explains how to prepare students for public speaking regarding their essays. Discusses problems and argues for the assignment's usefulness. (HB)

Explores some of the dominant discursive models of Southeast Asians operative within academic and popular culture, and demonstrates how these models are taken up and responded to in school projects of adolescent Southeast Asian students in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) schools. How these students negotiate a public model for themselves is examined.…

Identifies some of the best general biographical sites on the Web and offers examples of some categorized biographical sites. Highlights include Web encyclopedias; presidents; women; scientists; children's literature authors and illustrators; popular culture; and classroom applications. (LRW)