Media education celebrates modern society, awash in a constant barrage of information. It encourages people to begin questioning the mass media messages, not taking things at face value. It encourages questioning how the technology used to present something may affect how it is received.
When Media Education Should Begin
Media education should begin in the elementary grades in modern schools. The way the media impacts young people today is a global education issue that is being addressed in the early grades. Learning about media helps young people to understand the influence the media has on them, how media is developed and created, and how to evaluate what they see and hear.
Media Sends Messages
Media education can begin with the core concept that all media presents a message. Students can learn to look for the message, and evaluate it, by asking, “Who is sending this message? Who is the creator of this media?” Once that is determined, they can ask, “Why is this message being sent?”
Media Messages are Interpreted Differently
Another core concept students should learn is that all media messages are interpreted differently by different audiences. There is no wrong or right way to understand a message. What matters is that students realize there is a message, whether it is hidden or overt. They might ask themselves, “How would another person view this message?”
Teaching Young People About Media Awareness
With elementary students, one way to demonstrate this is to have them view two different websites, both dealing with judging dogs. First, show them a website about AKC dogs and how they are bred, trained, and judged.
Next, have the students view a website about someone’s personal pet. The website might have pictures with cute captions, or it might have statements of opinion, saying their dog is the best. Ask the students, “What is the difference in these two websites? How are the messages different? Which one would be the better resource for a report on dog breeds?”
Media Education Progresses From Simple to Sophisticated
Of course, this is very simplified, but for a beginning media student, simplicity is the most effective way to begin raising awareness.
As media education continues through the higher grades, more sophisticated ways of defining messages may be introduced. Then students may be ready to begin questioning social media, mass media, and commercial media.
Another step is creating original media presentations for other students. As the other students evaluate the media, awareness grows.
Teacher as Facilitator
A teacher of media education facilitates the questioning process in students until they are able to create meaningful questions of their own. The process of becoming media literate doesn’t involve right or wrong answers, it involves learning to question effectively.
Goal of Media Education
Media education allows people today to learn how to assimilate the wide variety of information and resources available to them, and to synthesize all of the information into something meaningful and useful. Enabling a person to find the gold nuggets of valuable information in mass communication is the goal of media education. That is what makes a person media literate.
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