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Abstract
This study outlines the effectiveness of a media literacy curriculum in changing attitudes about media violence through critical discussions and analytical viewing exercises. Ninety-three sixth graders participated in a curriculum focusing on “high-risk” ways of presenting violence in the media. Results of a one-group, pre-test post-test design suggest that participation in the curriculum was associated with an increase in critical attitudes about the topic. Open-ended responses also demonstrated enhanced sophistication in analyzing media violence after the curriculum. The study has potentially important implications for media education and media violence.
She would like to thank the members of her Spring 2001 Television Violence class for helping to create and administer this curriculum as well as sixth-grade teachers Denise Dejnak, Julie Webster, Mary Gene Devlin, Rick Gifford, and Brian McNamara, and Principals Doug Tierney, Kay Siciliano, and Terez Waldoch for the use of their classrooms and for their helpful suggestions. Most of all, she would like to thank the sixth graders who wowed all of those involved with their knowledge and critical thinking in analyzing the media.
Notes
The research was supported by a service learning grant from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of MassachusettsAmherst.
1. Sixth-grade students were selected because they were considered old enough to have the cognitive and scholastic abilities, including listening, reading, and critical thinking, needed to follow the curriculum (Flavell, Flavell, Green, & Korfmacher, Citation1990). They were also considered old enough to not be exceedingly frightened or disturbed by the violent images that were critically analyzed in the media literacy curriculum. On the other hand, they were also considered young enough to still be forming important impressions of media that may persist into adulthood.
2. Census figures from 1990 indicate that the median yearly household income in the three towns was US $34,591. The population of the three towns was 1.6% Black or African American, 2.9% Asian or Asian American, 2.1% Latino, and 93.4% White or Caucasian. Since only sixth graders participated in this study, the majority of participating students was 12 years of age. Over a third of the sample (38.7%) was 11. One student was 13. Just over half (51.6%) of the students were male (48.4% female). Students from Town A (with three participating classrooms) comprised 57% of the sample. Students from Town B (one classroom) comprised 24.7%, and Town C (one classroom) comprised 18.3%.
3. Tests investigating correlations among the factors reveal significant associations between the media construct reality items at Time 1 and Time 2 (r=0.30, p<0.01), the media construct reality items at Time 2 and embedded values items at Time 2 (r=0.22, p<0.05), the media construct reality items at Time 2 and the responses of audiences items at Time 2 (r=0.24, p<0.05), and the responses of audiences items at Time 1 and the embedded values items at Time 1 (r=0.38, p<0.001). No other bivariate combinations of the additive indexes comprising the factors were significantly correlated.
4. Cronbach's alpha scores were calculated for the items comprising each of additive index. They were .49 for the embedded values component, 0.45 for the audience response component, and 0.51 for the construction of reality component, respectively. It is not surprising that the Cronbach's alpha values are low, since there are only three items in the first two components and two items in the last, and alpha depends heavily on the number of items (Crano & Brewer, Citation2002). Finally, the two items in the social responsibility component had a Cronbach's alpha of just 0.20. Therefore, these items were not added together to form an index but rather were used one by one in subsequent analyses.
