Describes a year-long elective film course in modern U.S. history for twelfth grade students. Explains course methodology and objectives. Analyzes selected films to illustrate how the course elucidates the consensus-conflict theme in U.S. history since the 1930s and enhances student understanding of Hollywood's perspective on gender, race, and…

Examines 115 successful television series portraying white and African-American families across 4 decades of U.S. prime-time television for the structure and characteristics of the families. The data show a trend toward more equal presentation of conventional and nonconventional families, few divorced or female single parents, and few minority…

Asks how art should be taught in a culture in which television and electronic media constitute the primary media with which young people interact. Suggests that art educators should focus on how students use technology, the production and viewing of technological images, and the ways that such images have meaning. (DSK)

Presents a four-stage model for dioceses wishing to integrate media literacy into elementary and secondary religious studies and parish youth programs. Describes the Vatican's 1992 Aetatis Novae: Pastoral Instruction on Social Communications, and its effect on Catholic curricula. (VWC)

Describes an interdisciplinary high school course that used contemporary films to illustrate overarching themes in the U.S. experience. Themes included individualism/social responsibility, isolation/internationalism, and liberal/conservative. Emphasis was on conceptual rather than historic relationships (e.g. "Norma Rae" illustrated…

Those who are most marginalized, both culturally and economically, in society are concentrated in the nation's largest urban centers and have the least opportunities to be successful in school science or to pursue higher education and career trajectories in science, mathematics, or engineering. This article shares the results of a study in which…

This article presents a study based on surveys conducted annually for the past nine years by the Samara Foundation for Social Research, commissioned by the committee for youth affairs of the administration of Samara Oblast. The sample consists of about 800 young people aged fourteen to thirty. In the present study the authors have focused on…

Contemporary society is an "information society" where much of the information has a visual nature. This text uses semiotic and psychological concepts to help students gain understanding of how meaning is found in visual phenomena and how minds process images. Focus is upon mass media and popular culture. Theoretical discussions are…

Articles in this journal examine the way art and art education affect the individual and the formation of culture. This volume includes: (1) "The Deep Creek School: Technology, Ecology and the Body as Pedagogical Alternatives in Art Education" (Daniel L. Collins; Charles R. Garoian); (2) "The Green Quilt: An Example of Collective…

What Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE) has learned about popular urban youth culture and the "hip-hop generation" is updated and expanded, focusing on substance use and abuse, violence, and sexuality. Qualitative focus groups were used to obtain the opinions of former high school dropouts who were enrolled in General…

Effective communications strategies for delivering substance abuse and other prosocial behavior messages to African American inner city teenagers were studied. After pilot studies, the final sample consisted of middle school and high school students from the urban centers of New York City; Washington, D.C.; Camden (New Jersey); Philadelphia…

Instructors of courses in mass society, culture, and communication start out facing three types of difficulties: the historical orientation of learning, the parochialism of various disciplines, and negative intellectually elitist attitudes toward mass culture/media. Added to these problems is the fact that many instructors have little or no…

Popular culture in America is comprehensively reviewed in this book. The book is designed for either high school or college level social studies or English courses and includes a variety of graphic illustrations that provide a thread of continuity throughout. Basically the author has developed a method of analysis that reveals how popular culture…

Discusses the dominance of the narrative form in President Reagan's rhetoric and how his use of narrative form--characterized by a story-based truth, an emphasis on morality, and a grounding in common sense--affects political judgment, differentiating the perspective of his supporters and his opponents. Considers the power and limitations of…

A brief review looks at student characteristics, interests, and preferences in entertainment, reading matter, politics, fashion, college choice, college major, food, alcohol use, fraternities and sororities, and military training. It identifies the most common reasons for attending college and the countries from which the most foreign students…