Heroes for Animal Protection

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing a book and video about songbird steward Rachel Carson and composing a social message about being an animal steward.

Heroes for Plant Protection

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing a book and video about tree steward Wangari Maathai and composing a social message about being a plant steward.

Heroes for Water Protection

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing a book and video about water steward Marion Stoddart and composing a social message about being a water steward.

The Value of Trees

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson reflecting on the free market's role in the 19th century lumber harvest by interpreting maps and comparing texts from John Muir and John J Audubon .

Frogs and Atrazine

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short informational writing excerpts to consider opposing views on the possible relationship between frog popultion decline and the use of the herbicide atrazine.

Rainforest Biodiversity

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short film excerpts to reflect on the impacts to rainforest biodiversity by monoculture plantations.

Northern Rockies Gray Wolf

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short informational writing excerpts to reflect on the removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list.

Human/Animal Relations

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short film excerpts to reflect on messages about human and animal relations.

History of Endangered Species

Media literacy and critical thinking unit using diverse media imagery to teach about how endangered species have been perceived by people in the U.S. and how the media has constructed that public perception. Focus topics include indigenous perspectives, whaling, habitat destruction and the Endangered Species Act.

Cochabamba, Water for Sale

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short informational writing excerpts to reflect on the pros and cons of water privatization in Bolivia.

Exxon Valdez, Oil and Water

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short film excerpts to reflect on the impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Chukchi Sea Oil Drilling

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short informational writing excerpts to reflect on the pros and cons of Alaskan oil drilling.

Damming the Rivers

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short film excerpts to reflect on river damming projects and on the use of water as a resource.

History of Resource Depletion

Media literacy and critical thinking unit using diverse media imagery to teach about how resource depletion has been perceived by people in the U.S. and how the media has constructed that public perception. Focus topics include water, forests, oil and consumption.

Depleted Uranium

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short informational writing excerpts to reflect on the health and environmental effects of depleted uranium as a weapon in war.

Nuclear Reactor Safety

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short film excerpts to reflect on nuclear reactor safety in light of the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.

Rachel Carson (Print Documents Lesson)

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short informational writing excerpts to reflect on the media representation of Rachel Carson's legacy.

Rachel Carson (Video Clips Lesson)

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson using four short film excerpts to reflect on conflicting views on Rachel Carson's place in history.

History of Chemicals in the Environment

Media literacy and critical thinking unit using diverse media imagery to teach about how chemicals in the environment have been perceived by people in the U.S. and how the media has constructed that public perception. Focus topics include pesticides, fertilizer, gasoline additives and persistent organic pollutants.

Traditional and Industrial Farming

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing examples of corn and dairy farming to understand the diverse philosophies, tools and practices that distinguish traditional and industrial farming.

Sustainable Food Security Systems

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing models for food security through the lenses of access, culture, employment, environment, health, ownership, scale and worker safety.

Hydrofracking, Media, and Credibility

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing the credibility of messages about hydrofracking as presented in video clips, diagrams and online searches.

Onondaga Lake

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing the stewardship interests for Onondaga Lake as regards economic development, cultural preservation and human and ecosystem health.

Watershed Stakeholders

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson in which students analyze maps, videos and informational text to reflect on stakeholder interests in maintaining watersheds.

Bioregional Economy

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson in which students will complete and present a multimedia research project on just and sustainable economic development projects in their bioregion.

Climate Change, Agriculture & Sustainability

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson reflecting on the impacts of climate change on agriculture and the role of agricultural practices in contributing to climate change.

Transitioning to a Sustainable Future

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson in which students will analyze models for sustainability through the lenses of social justice, climate change, fossil fuel depletion and economic systems and thereafter define and articulate their views on transitioning to a sustainable future.

Biofuels

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson comparing varied perspectives about growing corn as a biofuel commodity by decoding three text excerpts and six video clips.

Guiding Our Food Choices

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson considering how food choices impact personal, social and environmental health by analyzing web pages and diagrams.

Green Revolution

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson exploring arguments for and against green revolution technology by reading excerpts from four articles about Norman Borlaug, founder of the Green Revolution.

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.

BP Oil and Gulf Fisheries

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson about the impact of the BP oli spill on Gulf Coast fisheries by decoding headlines and video clips.

Consumerism & Sustainability

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson asking students to consider their own consumer decisions relating to sustainability through a process of decoding TV commercials and videos about bottled water.

Who Owns the Water?

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

The Value of Water

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson about threats to and protection measures for water supplies and values related to stewardship of water resources explored by decoding book covers and tables of contents.

Sustainable Cultures

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson about sustainable agricultural practices among traditional land-based cultures by analyzing web pages and videos.

Food Security

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing videos and text excerpts as a means to understand the conditions required for food security, the causes of food insecurity and potential solutions leading to food security.

Starter Kit for Science 6-12

This guide gives users a brief overview of our approach (question-based media decoding) and materials (e.g., lessons) available for free from the Project Look Sharp website for a particular level and subject.

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.

Sustainable Economics

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing the relationship of economics to the sustainability of food systems by reading the work of authors presented in five periodicals.

Farming, Community, and Sustainability

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing the roles of community, farmers and farm labor in food system sustainability using visual imagery, film and song.

Voices Role-Play

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson in which students will study and communicate in a role play debate the perspective of a sustainability advocate and then articulate their own opinions about the topic.

Student Media Research Project on Sustainability

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson in which students will complete and present a quantitative research project on media representation of sustainability.

Sustainability and Media: Introducing Content Analysis

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson introducing the differences between qualitative and quantitative research by decoding messages about sustainability in magazine covers.

Defining Sustainability

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing textual and diagrammatic definitions of sustainability presented by diverse corporate and civil society sources.

Creative Visions of the Future

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing the imagined future of food, water and agriculture as viewed through the creative media of film, song, poetry and science fiction literature.

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.

A History of Global Warming in Science, Politics, and the Media

Media literacy and critical thinking unit using diverse media imagery to teach about how global warming has been perceived by people in the U.S. and how the media has constructed that public perception.

The Precautionary Principle

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing potential costs and consequences of different responses to climate change by comparing brief text selections from four authors.

The Consequences of Global Warming

Media literacy and critical thinking lesson analyzing news articles about the impact of global warming on hurricanes, diseases, agriculture, sea level rise, severe weather, freshwater and biodiversity.

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.

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 .