Shark Attack! Fear, Media Bias, and Impact

Students analyze media messages about sharks for credibility, purpose and impact and to reflect on fear perpetuated by the media.

Peace Begins with Me: Decoding Media about Peace

Students analyze a poster and videos for messages about peace, the purposes of media, and about student responses to media messages.

Decoding Data Centers - Media Messages and Bias

Students analyze a video advertisement, a local news story, a TikTok video and an infographic for messages about data centers, sourcing and bias.

Bias in Charts: Temperature and Climate Change

Students analyze a chart from NASA and a tweet from the National Review for messages about climate change and bias in media construction of charts.

Cinematic Stereotyping - High School Teachers in the Movies

Students analyze a Google search and clips from feature films for messages about stereotypes of teachers, about the impact of film representations of teaching and about the pedagogical process of question-based, student-centered constructivist media decoding.

Clickbaiting Our Emotions: AI Deepfakes

Students analyze a social media post and a TV news report for messages about A.I. deepfakes and assessing credibility of media messages.

Confronting Personal Challenges - Bethany Hamilton in Film

Students analyze trailers from documentary and feature films for messages about film genres and techniques, about interpretation of media messages and about how people persevere through personal challenges.

College or a Trade: Which is the Right Choice?

Students analyze two posters for messages about the potential benefits and challenges of college or trade career choices.

Cinematic Stereotyping - Elementary School Teachers in the Movies

Students analyze a Google search and clips from feature films for messages about stereotypes of teachers, about the impact of film representations of teaching and about the pedagogical process of question-based, student-centered constructivist media decoding.

Cinematic Stereotyping - Librarians in the Movies

Students analyze a Google search and film clips for messages about libraries and librarians and about purpose and effects of media messages.

Librarians in the Movies - Media Messages and Effects

Students analyze film clips for messages about libraries and librarians and about purpose and effects of media messages.

Houses Around the Globe: Decoding Book Covers

Students analyze book covers for messages about houses and homes around the world, how different book covers treat similar topics, and choosing books to read.

Social Media & Trigonometry: What's the Best Explanation?

Students analyze a YouTube video, an Instagram post and a TikTok video for messages about trigonometric functions and about the effectiveness of social media videos to learn and teach math.

Way to Go! Decoding Media about Transportation

Students analyze an ebook, an animated video and a ”Kids News” video for messages about transportation choices, environmental impact, media forms and target audience.

Bias in Charts: Race, Gender, Education, and Income

Students analyze charts from the New York Times and a blog post for messages about income related to race and gender and about credibility and bias in media construction of charts.

Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

Students analyze Paul Revere’s account of his midnight ride, Longfellow’s poem and a YouTube video to consider context and sourcing in recounting an historic event.

The Boston Massacre: A Bloody Slaughter or Self Defense?

Students analyze Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, a newspaper account by the imprisoned British commander, a sworn deposition by an eyewitness, and the court testimony of another eyewitness to learn about sourcing, bias, and credibility in historical sources.

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.

(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.

Christmas Love - SEL and Media Literacy

This lesson can teach to SEL objectives by having students identify emotions through facial expressions and/or media literacy objectives by having students analyze the messages and techniques used in a commercial.

Christmas Love - Advertising, Emotions, and Literary Elements

Students analyze a short video commercial about “Christmas Love” for its purpose, the elements and techniques of storytelling, and to reflect on the role of emotion and identity in interpretation of media messages.

Music, Media, and Meaning

Students analyze a short clip from the movie Lion King with four different musical accompaniments to recognize how music influences our emotions and communicates different messages.

Media Constructions of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence

Students analyze diverse media forms related to John Trumbull’s famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence for messages about the event, the credibility and qualities of different media forms, and about American history.

Wellness Claims and Social Media

Students analyze social media posts with health/wellness claims and evaluate their credibility.

The History of Cigarette Commercials: Issues of Persuasion and Regulation

Students analyze 3 TV commercials and a PSA for cigarettes from the 1950s-1960s to assess marketing techniques, health messages and gender stereotypes, and then read about and discuss the 1970 congressional ban on cigarette advertising on television.