Community Organizing for Environmental Justice

Students analyze a webpage for messages about community building for social justice and about website design choices. This simple decoding activity has been taken from a larger lesson with many slides titled “Merging Social Justice with Environmentalism." To access this lesson, type the title with quotes into the PLS keyword search bar.

Community Responses to Climate Disaster Recovery

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze an opinion piece and the executive summary of a governmental report for conflicting perspectives on effective climate disaster recovery efforts.

Comparing Renewables: U.S. vs. Global Energy Use

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode graphs for messages about how the use of renewable energy sources can help to reduce human vulnerability to climate change.

Constructivist Media Decoding in the Social Studies: Leveraging the New Standards for Educational Change

Related to kit: Media Constructions of Presidential Campaigns

This article explores the role that media analysis can play on educational reform tied to the new NCSS C3 Framework for the Social Studies and the Common Core ELA standards for secondary social studies. It uses examples from media decoding activities on the Project Look Sharp website tied to specific standards. It also explores professional development tools that support methodological shifts towards inquiry and assessments of critical thinking skills. By Chris Sperry, The Journal of Media Literacy, Vol. 62, pg. 46-54, 2015.

Discourse or Disinformation?

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing conflicting presentations of scientific information about global warming in various drafts of government reports, video and opinion articles .

Drought Causes: Climate Change Impacts

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode web pages messages about the relationship between climate change and droughts.

El Nino: Connections to Global Warming

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode videos for messages about patterns of ocean warming during an El Nino year and the subsequent impacts on worldwide weather.

Environmental Justice – For Whom, How and Why?

In this media literacy activity students analyze videos for messages about impacts and potential remedies for environmental justice.

Ethanol: Pros and Cons

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode videos for messages about the benefits and costs of using corn-based ethanol as an energy source.

Extreme Weather: Climate Change Connections & Water

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode webpages for messages about the relationship between climate change and extreme weather.

Family Planning: Why it Matters

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze three short video clips for messages about the needs for and impacts of family planning.

Food Waste: What’s the Problem? What’s the Solution?

In this media literacy activity students analyze videos for messages about the problems and potential solutions related to global food waste and climate change.

Geoengineering: Can Techno Fixes Save Us From Climate Change?

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode two articles about geoengineering for credibility and for conflicting perspectives about its usefulness as a tool to combat climate change.

Green Transportation: Electric Cars vs. Bicycles

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze two short excerpts from online articles for messages about the economic and environmental benefits and costs of electric vehicles.

Greta Meets Malala: How Different Media Forms Present the News

In this media literacy activity students analyze media reports on the meeting between Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. In addition to learning about the two young activists, students reflect on the qualities of different media forms including news and opinion articles, a tweet and posts on Instagram and Facebook.

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.

Huracán María: El Impacto de la Inmigración Puertorriqueña en Florida

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity for Spanish language classes in which students analyze three short excerpts of online newspaper articles about the economic impacts on Florida resulting from the influx of Puerto Rican climate refugees following Hurricane Maria. The student handouts are in Spanish language only, while the Teacher Guide is provided in both English and Spanish.

Hydrofracking Pros & Cons: Arguing the Case

Media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students decode videos for messages about how hydrofracking impacts the biosphere.

International Climate Agreements: How the Decisions of Government Officials Can Potentially Impact Climate Change

This is a media literacy and critical thinking activity in which students analyze two op-eds for conflicting perspectives on the impacts of the Trump adminstration's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords..

Is There a Future in Oil?

This is a media literacy activity in which students analyze two video clips with the following question in mind: Is there a future in oil? One of the videos features a speaker representing the American Petroleum Institute who highlights the economic benefits of increasing oil and gas production while the other video clip features speakers from the Rockefeller Brothers Funds and 350.org who present the economic and environmental reasons to divest from fossil fuels and support renewable energy sources.