Although there has been an explosion of information and advice about child rearing in the mass media, little attention has been given to the nature or extent of the media's impact on parents or to ways in which media could be used more effectively. Based on an analysis of books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, film, videotapes, software,…

Provides background information and learning activities for six areas of inquiry concerning media literacy and violence. These are (1) "Monitoring 'Action' in TV Cartoons"; (2) "To Market, To Market (Share)"; (3) "What's 'Educational' Anyway"; (4) "Rating the TV Rating System"; (5) "Nine Risks of TV Violence"; and (6) "Teenagers in the News." (MJP)

Draws an interesting and instructive parallel between the work of film director Alfred Hitchcock, a master craftsman and technician, and the process of academic research. Briefly identifies shared qualities of specific concepts clearly communicated: all of the parts serve the whole, and respect for the audience. (MJP)

Compares and contrasts two emerging approaches to educational historical research. Reveals a double-edged sword in that while these approaches open up the field to a wide array of subject matter and styles of inquiry, they also may weaken the epistemological stature of the discipline. (MJP)

Presents a lesson plan that analyzes and interprets the symbolic content of six political cartoons published in the United States during the juncture and aftermath of the Spanish-American War. Includes instructions for preparation, reproductions of six cartoons suitable for hand-outs, and a series of discussion questions. (MJP)

Provides a list of materials from the ERIC database, along with directions for obtaining these documents, that include both teaching materials and general background information on the Progressive Era; topics range from melodrama and women in the Progressive Era to the Muckrakers and the World War I draft. (CMK)

America's leading historian of education recounts a lifetime in the cause of responsible school reform. Diane Ravitch's blow-by-blow description of run-ins with Afrocentrist firebrand Leonard Jeffries, misguided feminists at the AAUW, the language sensitivity police, and others offers a fascinating perspective on how the education establishment…

Describing what cultural studies or what pedagogy is all about is very complex, because there are many contradictory perspectives and paradigms in both disciplines. There is no single object of study, no unified body of theory, no one-and-only methodology that defines cultural studies or pedagogy completely. In this article, the authors focus on…

This essay proposes instances of how Anglophone popular culture can offer a place for nurturing critical encounters in the context of learning English. It delineates the theoretical bases that reveal popular culture as a fundamental indicator of society and, using Anglophone movies and stories, analyzes the pedagogical possibilities for…

Adult illiteracy is a worldwide problem. Illiterate adults are the most difficult to teach and to reach because illiteracy is characterized by embarrassment and low self-esteem. Given that radio is heavily used by lower income and less educated people, literacy projects utilizing radio were attempted in 40 countries between 1960 and 1974. The main…

This project was commissioned to investigate ways in which schools can include the cultural activities and symbols of young people--musical interests in particular--in the design and implementation of a music curriculum. The resulting report is divided into three sections. First is a literature review that focuses on the musical interests of youth…

Popular culture genres of the mid-nineteenth century--the anti-slavery almanac, dime novel, panorama, and propaganda play--provide secondary school teachers with an historical medium to help students understand the conditions of slavery. Following an introduction to the uses of these genres in teaching, separate sections contain historical…

Because the field of popular music has produced rich resources of social commentary on women, it offers ample instructional materials for the critical examination of women's life styles in a pluralistic society. Additionally, by adding a "voice" to the traditional classroom content, this medium arouses student enthusiasm and interest which many…

Discusses the failure of Joe Bob Briggs' parody of "We Are the World" in terms of the development of the communal sense that creates a set of group norms, which in turn create "phantom constraints" of which the parody's author may not be aware.(NKA)

A study examined how the family structure has changed over time in contemporary realistic children's literature for middle readers. There is an ongoing debate in this country about what defines a family and whether it is in transformation or becoming extinct. Since 1960 there is evidence that the family structure has changed. The books selected in…