Lewis Hine and Child Labor: Photography of Persuasion

Students will analyze and ask questions about photographs to learn about persuasive techniques, intent, impact, and to reflect on historical context and perspective.

What is Democracy?

Students analyze short videos for messages about different forms of democratic process in the U.S., personal bias and video techniques.

Demonstration Video: January 6, 2021: Newspaper Front Pages

Middle School teacher, Mary Kate Longeran, leads her students through a decoding of domestic and international newspapers - using the Project Look Sharp lesson: “Storming the Capital” - to analyze media construction and bias in news coverage. (Total Time: 8:57) Published 2023

Graphing the Vote: Age, Gender, and Time

Students will tell the stories behind political graphs by: analyzing graphs about generational voting, asking questions about the sourcing and target audience, and reflecting on patterns in youth voting. This lesson has the potential to promote polarization. See the advice in the lesson plan.

Interview: "Media Literacy and Me" Radio Kerry June 28th, 2024

Jerry O'Sullivan, host of the current affairs radio show Kerry Today in Ireland, interviews Executive Director Cyndy Scheibe to discuss the need for media literacy in public schools (in Ireland and in the U.S.), and the role that Project Look Sharp's resources can play in supporting Irish teachers and students.

Chris Sperry, Prescription for an Infodemic, a pedagogical response in an era of fake news, In Victor Strasberger (Ed.), kids and today’s Media: A careful analysis and scrutiny of the problems, volume 2, New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2021.

In this chapter from the 2021 book, Kids and Today’s Media, Chris Sperry lays out Project Look Sharp’s approach to disinformation. After a look at the historical context of our country’s “epistemological crisis” and the role of confirmation bias, Chris makes the case for media literacy and specifically Constructivist Media.

Declaration of Independence: Sourcing, Credibility, & Bias

Middle School teacher, Mary Kate Lonergan, leads her students through a decoding of domestic and international newspapers - using the Project Look Sharp lesson: “Storming the Capital” - to analyze media construction and bias in news coverage. (Total Time: 8:57) Published 2023

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.