The Immigration Debate: Trump vs Harris

Students analyze political ads from the 2024 presidential campaign for messages about immigration, media construction, and our own interpretations.

What is a Campaign?

Students analyze historic and contemporary campaign media for messages about purpose, media types and democratic process.

Satirizing Trump and Harris - Comedy, Bias, and Impact

Students explore political satire through the analysis of comedy sketches related to the 2024 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Messaging Masculinity in the 2024 Presidential Campaign

Students analyze speeches and analysis from the 2024 Republican and Democratic conventions for messages about defining masculinity, political campaign messaging and identity as a factor in media interpretation.

Harris vs Trump: Whose Language, Whose Issues?

Students analyze webpage issue lists to identify which are from the Harris and which are from the Trump campaigns, reflecting on language choices, target audience, and their own biases.

An Aesop Fable: Media, Morals, and More

Students compare an audio recording, video, and text of the Aesop story, the Tortoise and the Hare, to understand fables and compare different media forms.

Tracking Climate Urgency: 30 years of IPCC Reports

Students analyze short quotes from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports from 1990-2020 for messages about scientific conclusions and persuasive language related to the climate crisis.

Kamala Harris & Donald Trump Video Biographies

Students analyze Donald Trump and Kamala Harris film biographies for messages about presidential leadership, media creation, and how political bias shapes media interpretation.

Video Games & Climate: Analyzing Constructions of the Future

Students analyze video game trailers for messages about climate change and possible futures, about storytelling and marketing techniques and about whether video games can impact social change.

Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

A study of select campaign posters, cartoons, and ads teaches students to critically analyze messages from media source and to understand the role media have played throughout the history of American elections. By Chris Sperry and Sox Sperry, Social Education, November/December 2007.

Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

The webinar offers high school educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and free curriculum materials to support a deeper understanding of how to use a wide variety of media forms across the historical spectrum - media from 19th century portraits, songs and handbills, to 21st century websites, twitter and email - to study historical context and to question their credibility.

High School US History: 1800 Anti-Jefferson Political Cartoon

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns. Students in this video decode political cartoons against Thomas Jefferson.

College Level: 2008 Election Magazine Covers

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns. Students in this video decode various magazine covers portraying Barack Obama during the 2008 election.

(Not So) Unprecedented Media Analysis of the 2016 Presidential Race and Its Historical Precedents

This article helps teachers to understand how to use media documents from the 2016 presidential race (as well as past campaigns) to critically analyze media messages to teach objectives from the new NCSS C3 Framework for the Social Studies and the Common Core ELA standards for secondary social studies. When students examine election posters, cartoons, and ads they will comprehend that many themes--including xenophobia, income inequality, and women's political power--have been historical mainstays on the campaign trail.

Climate Change Through Time Magazine Covers

Students analyze Time magazine covers from 1970-2022 for messages about how climate change has been represented in a mainstream magazine and the choices magazine designers make in selling their products.

How Big is the Crowd? Proportional Reasoning and Critical Thinking

Students use mathematical reasoning to evaluate claims about crowd size for President Trump’s 2016 inauguration, and reflect on confirmation bias when assessing truth claims in the media.

Climate Change Through Memes

Students analyze memes for messages about climate change and about how memes as a media form impact social change.

To Break the Glass Ceiling: Analyzing Campaign Ads by Women Running for President

Students analyze political campaign ads for messages about female presidential candidates, historical and cultural context, and techniques of persuasion.

Good Data - Bad Feelings: Graphing Economics, Public Opinion and Media Coverage

Students analyze graphs and media analysis for messages about the relationship between media reporting on the economy and public opinion.

Climate Change Through Movie Posters

Students analyze film posters from 2004-2022 for messages about how climate change has been represented in cinema, and the impact of film socially and personally.