What Do You Know? Sourcing, Credibility and Bias

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson reflecting on sourcing, credibility, accuracy and bias of information presented in the media while introducing students to vocabulary and issues addressed in Media Constructions of Sustainability lessons.

What Is Causing Global Warming?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing conflicting perspectives on the causes for global warming by decoding short excerpts from two films, The Great Global Warming Swindle and An Inconvenient Truth.

What is the Role of the Federal Government in Protecting the Environment?

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze three short news reports for conflicting messages about the appointment of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Where Does My Food Come From?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing videos to discern messages about the production and transportation of food.

Where Does Water Go?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing videos to discern messages about the role of the hydrologic cycle in creating watersheds.

Who Owns the Water?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson exploring how water rights decisions impact communities by decoding excerpts from four films.

Who Stewards Seeds?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson comparing varied perspectives about the best approach to stewarding corn seeds by decoding six video clips.

Why Protect Our Water Resources?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing book and report covers and tables of contents to discern messages about how people impact water supplies and what individuals and communities can do to protect water resources.

Wind Farm Site Selection: A Community Debates the Issues

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze two op-eds for perspectives on siting local wind farms.

Wind: Benefits and Costs

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode a book cover and a tweet for messages about how human use of natural resources for energy affects the biosphere.

Young People Taking Action to Protect our Warming Planet

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze four short excerpts from online articles for messages about youth activism for environmental protection and social justice.

Youth, Hip Hop & Climate Change

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze two short hip hop music video to compare different approaches to encourage youth activism to deal with climate change.

Briefing: Project Look Sharp's Decoding Media Constructions and Sustainability

Antonio Lopez, in his coda to Greening Media Education, summarizes the complex set of skills needed “to bring ecologically oriented cultural practice into the realm of media education (which) promotes systems thinking, collaborative learning, critical thinking, lifelong learning and digital media literacy.” This article offers cases studies of two Look Sharp lessons, one for elementary age students and another for upper level high school, each of which was designed with these skills in mind as a way to bring Lopez’s vision into practice in the classroom.

College Level: Hydrofracking, Media and Credibility

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Sustainability: Fingerlakes

This 9 minute annotated video demonstrates constructivist media decoding using the lesson "Exploring the Impact of Hydrofracking on Aquifers," where college students analyze pro and anti-fracking diagrams.

High School Science: The Great Global Warming Swindle

An example of leading a class through a constructivist media decoding using a lesson from our kit, Media Constructions of Global Warming. Students analyze a short video clip from the film The Great Global Warming Swindle, compare the information in the clip with a chart, and reflect on issues of credibility and bias in media representations and our own biases when evaluating information.

Where Media Literacy Meets Sustainability Education

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Sustainability: Fingerlakes

The webinar offers educators and teachers-in-training pedagogical techniques and curriculum materials to support constructivist media decoding to help students engage in critical thinking about the complex environmental, economic and social systems that underly sustainability.

Passenger Pigeon Memorial Webpage

Students analyze a webpage for messages about the last passenger pigeon and about benefit and harm in media messages. This simple decoding activity has been taken from a larger lesson with many slides titled “History of Endangered Species." To access this lesson, type the title with quotes into the PLS keyword search bar.

Native American Buffalo Recovery Webpage

Students analyze a webpage for messages about buffalo recovery efforts by Native Americans and about values in media messages. This simple decoding activity has been taken from a larger lesson with many slides titled “History of Endangered Species." To access this lesson, type the title with quotes into the PLS keyword search bar.

"Bald Eagles: Saving Our Symbol" Webpage

Students analyze a webpage for messages about bald eagles, DDT and about purpose and funding in media messages. This simple decoding activity has been taken from a larger lesson with many slides titled “History of Endangered Species." To access this lesson, type the title with quotes into the PLS keyword search bar.

Protecting Wolves: Differing Opinions

Students analyze two webpages for messages about wolf protection and about point of view in media messages. This simple decoding activity has been taken from a larger lesson with many slides titled “History of Endangered Species." To access this lesson, type the title with quotes into the PLS keyword search bar.