Course Materials

TAKE-HOME ACTIVITY 2: MEDIA INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES

We've established in this course that media can be an important influence, both positive and negative, on children. Parents and other caregivers must therefore act to ensure that children benefit from and learn how to think critically about media messages and experiences. In this activity you'll use and evaluate the effectiveness of a media intervention technique intended to increase the positive impact of media experiences for children. Then you'll write a short paper in which you describe what happened and what you found. Here's what to do:

  1. Identify a child age 15 or under who you know -- your own child, a relative, a child of neighbors or friends, etc.
     
  2. Ask a parent or the primary caregiver of the child (unless you are that person) for preliminary permission to conduct a media intervention activity; describe the general scope of the assignment.
     
  3. Based on the child's age, developmental level, media use habits, and personality; the parent/caregiver's suggestions/preferences (be sure to discuss this with them); and your own interests, select a single topic area, one or two goals, one or two techniques and the corresponding evaluation method from the list below. Determine how you will conduct the activity and describe this procedure to the parent/caregiver.
     
  4. Ask for formal permission from the parent/caregiver to proceed (the parent can lead the activity if he/she prefers, with you observing and/or participating).
     
  5. Conduct one or more of the techniques below with the child. You should use the specific techniques listed here (not necessarily all of them for a given topic) but you can supplement them with other techniques as appropriate (see the instructor for details).
     
  6. Write a paper (3 pages in length, double spaced with standard fonts and 1 inch margins) that describes the following, each in a separate section with these headings: 1) the child, 2) what you wanted to accomplish, 3) what happened during the intervention, 4) how you evaluated the effectiveness of the intervention and what those results were, and 5) your impressions of the activity and what you learned.

Remember that this is an intervention, not an investigation: the goals, and the activities you choose to accomplish the goals, are meant to help the child benefit from and/or be less harmed by media experiences (i.e., you are not just trying to see whether they're coping with, benefitting from or being harmed by the media, you're trying to intervene to improve their experience with media).

If you have any questions please ask!

Media Intervention Techniques

Attention and comprehension

GOALS:

  • Improve child's understanding of plot, character motivations, shifts in time, inference, etc.

ACTIVITIES:

  • Watch two television programs (or videotapes, films, etc.) with the child and during only one program make comments to facilitate comprehension.

EVALUATION:

  • After each program and again later, ask the child questions about what happened in the programs. Did she comprehend and/or recall one better than the other?

 

Fantasy versus reality perception

GOALS:

  • Improve child's understanding of differences between mediated and nonmediated experience, and/or between factual and not factual program content, and/or between believable or plausible content and fantasy
  • Improve child's understanding of differences between genres (e.g., news and drama)
  • Improve child's understanding of specific cues to different types of reality portrayals (e.g., live programs include "sloppy" speech, scripted dramas include background music, sitcoms include laugh tracks)

ACTIVITIES:

  • Ask the child questions to illustrate differences between mediated and nonmediated experience: "Can Mister Rogers see or hear you?"
  • Ask the child questions to illustrate differences between factual and not factual content: "Is there a difference between Sabrina the teenage witch and the actress who plays her?"
  • Ask the child questions that illustrate differences between reality and fantasy: "Is there such a person as Superman in real life?"
  • Discuss the different categories/genres of TV show (action-adventure, cartoon, situation comedy, drama, talk show, variety show, game show, soap opera, documentary, education programs, news, sports, advertisements, movies, etc.) and the degree to which each is factual and realistic.
  • Have the child compare stories in different media (TV, newspaper, radio) on the same story and note the differences in what information is provided.
  • Discuss some of the real people who create television and what they do, including the producer, scriptwriters, actors, directors, technicians, etc.
  • Explain that most programs are recorded so that mistakes can be edited out, how camera angles can give us any impression the producer wants, how stunts are performed using break-away props, and how special audio and visual effects can "fool" us into thinking something is real.
  • Have them use a video camera to illustrate how TV programs are created.
  • Explain how the percentage of people who are police, lawyers, or doctors is much higher on television than in real life.
  • Make lists of the things characters on all types of shows do that can't happen in real life.

EVALUATION:

  • Test the child's understanding of reality distinctions first before using these techniques and then again afterwards; was there a difference?

 

Imagination and creativity

GOALS:

  • Develop the child's imagination (ability to mentally picture things not present) and creativity (ability to image new things and combinations of things not present)

ACTIVITIES:

  • Have the child create characters and a story for a new TV show, and draw pictures of the characters and plot.
  • Have the child imagine favorite characters from different programs meeting and what would happen.
  • Ask the child what different (specific) people on television do when they're not on TV.

EVALUATION:

  • As the child works on these activities, are the stories and drawings and answers increasingly different from things the child has already seen on television or elsewhere (i.e., do the activities encourage the child to be more creative and imaginative)?

 

Language acquisition and usage

GOALS:

  • Improve the child's vocabulary and grammar, both oral and written

ACTIVITIES:

  • Just as you might hold up an object and ask the child to name it, do this with objects on television
  • Use television titles and themes to teach the child the sounds of letters (have the child list all the characters in a program with an "r" sound in their name)
  • Teach grammar by helping the child list objects and characters (nouns) and what they do (verbs), then try the same thing with adjectives and adverbs
  • Have the child simulate a news broadcast, and act as anchor person for a "family news" show
  • Have the child write a script for a new episode of a favorite program
  • Help the child write a letter to the producer of a favorite program
  • Have the child write a biography of a favorite character or an autobiography of herself as a TV character.

EVALUATION:

  • Did the child learn the new words? Can she distinguish noun from verb? Have her speak or write about a topic both before and after using the technique and look for differences.

 

Academic performance

GOALS:

  • Increase the child's motivation to achieve
  • Increase the child's achievement

ACTIVITIES:

  • Ask how the child's favorite characters succeeded in life and point to the importance of learning, ability to think and solve problems, and therefore the importance of school
  • Help the child use information from documentaries and other TV programs, radio programs like "All Things Considered," and the Internet to help them complete school work

EVALUATION:

  • Before and after using the technique, ask the parent questions about the child's interest in and enjoyment of school and learning, and about her/his academic performance.

 

Family interaction / Social relationships

GOALS:

  • Have the child spend less time alone or in parallel media use experiences and more time with others
  • Improve the child's understanding of what is expected in different types of relationships

ACTIVITIES:

  • Restrict television viewing time per day to 1 hour for a week (restrict what is watched too).
  • To replace television viewing time do other activities with the child, even media activities (e.g., play a computer game, etc.).
  • To replace television viewing time encourage the child to play with her/his friends.
  • Share the television viewing experience by discussing it with the child.
  • Use examples from television to illustrate different types of relationships (parent-child, husband-wife, sibling-sibling, business person-customer, teacher-student, etc.) and different norms of behavior for each.

EVALUATION:

  • Compare social behavior - including how much the child says and how much she seems to enjoy social interaction - before using the technique and after. For the restricted media diet, does the child revert to previous habits after the technique?

 

Advertising and consumer behavior

GOALS:

  • Help the child understand the economic basis of television
  • Help the child understand differences between the content of ads and real experience
  • Help the child understand techniques ads use to persuade (repetition, complex disclaimers, sound effects, camera angles, editing, deceptive pictures and wording, etc.)

ACTIVITIES:

  • Discuss with the child how the television industry works, making sure she understands that the goal is not to entertain or inform but to make money, with the number of people watching a program (not its quality) determining the amount advertisers must pay to the broadcaster.
  • Discuss with the child the different types of appeals advertisers use (e.g., Be the first to get the product, Get on the bandwagon - don't be left out, You'll be more popular, You'll be admired/respected, You'll be more attractive, You'll have more fun)
  • Ask the child questions about specific commercials: "What is this ad trying to convince you to do?," "What promise(s) is the ad making about the product?," "Will the product work as well in real life as it does in the ad?," "What techniques is the ad using to convince you?"
  • Actually test ad claims by purchasing the advertised product and evaluating it.
  • Discuss with the child the meaning of phrases such as "Each item sold separately," "Batteries not included," "Part of a nutritious breakfast," "Some restrictions apply," "Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery," etc.

EVALUATION:

  • After using the technique ask the child questions about ads she hasn't seen; is she more skeptical of the ad claims?

 

Violence and aggressive behavior

GOALS:

  • Help the child understand that the TV world is more violent than the real world
  • Help the child understand that nonviolent solutions to problems are better than violent solutions
  • Decrease the likelihood that the child will behave aggressively

ACTIVITIES:

  • Ask the child how many times she has seen someone being shot in real life, how many car accidents they have seen, how many fist fights, etc. (make your own list). Then ask her how often she has seen each of these on television (or have her count the number of these events that she sees while watching television during an evening). Point out the differences. Discuss other differences between TV and real life crime. Police spend more time filling out paper work in real life. There's more blue collar instead of white collar crime on television than there is in real life. The stars of police shows "can't" be killed but there's a new bad guy each week.
  • Discuss alternative (non-violent) solutions to problems posed in TV shows (ask the child to create her own nonviolent solutions, even draw a picture of the solutions).

EVALUATION:

  • Ask the child questions before and after using the technique to determine whether her beliefs about violence in the world and the appropriateness of using violence to solve problems have changed. Observe or have the parent/caregiver observe the child's behavior to see if she is less aggressive.

 

Prosocial behavior

GOALS:

  • Help the child understand the importance and value of sharing, cooperation, self control, etc.
  • Increase the likelihood that the child will carry out prosocial behaviors

ACTIVITIES:

  • Watch television with the child and point out and commend prosocial behaviors
  • Ask the child why they admire their favorite characters on television and point out that many of the reasons involve the characters' prosocial activities; repeat this process for people in real life who the child admires

EVALUATION:

  • Ask the child questions before and after using the technique to determine whether her beliefs about the value of prosocial behaviors have changed. Observe or have the parent/caregiver observe the child's behavior to see if she practices more of these behaviors.

 

Stereotyping and worldview

GOALS:

  • Help the child understand what a stereotype is and what prejudice is
  • Help the child understand how TV can promote stereotypes without us knowing it

ACTIVITIES:

  • Explain to the child what a stereotype is and how what may be true for individual characters on television (or people in real life) is not necessarily true for others in the same group (race, sex, occupation, age, religion, economic class, etc.). Ask questions like, "Are all football players less smart than people who wear glasses?," "Are all black families like the Huxtables?," "Are all older people like Homer Simpson's father?," are all police persons like Chuck Norris' character on 'Walker, Texas Ranger'?," and "Should women only have certain jobs and men only have other jobs?"
  • Have the child discuss her favorite characters and how they might be different from others in their group (e.g., is Lucy of "I Love Lucy" a typical housewife?)
  • Have the child draw a picture or tell a story that breaks a stereotype

EVALUATION:

  • Use questions before and after the technique to see whether the child's views and skepticism of portrayals have changed.

 

Sexuality

GOALS:

  • Help the child understand appropriate expectations for males and females
  • Help the child understand the relationship between sex and love
  • Help the child understand the over-emphasis on physical appearance
  • Help the child form appropriate opinions/beliefs about safe sex, pregnancy, AIDS, etc.

ACTIVITIES:

  • Use the behaviors and statements of television characters to discuss what are appropriate behaviors for males and females: "Should women be competitive?," "Should men cry?," "Which shows and characters fit in with the views of the child's family?"
  • Use the behaviors and statements of television characters to discuss the difference between emotional love and physical sex: "What are the different kinds of love shown on TV and in real life?," "Does love always involve kissing and touching?," "Do characters who have sex always love each other?"
  • Use the appearance, behaviors, and statements of television characters to discuss the relative importance of physical attractiveness: "What should males and females look like?," "Are heroes in the shows the child watches mostly attractive young people, and if so, why?," "Should a person be embarrassed by baldness? small breasts? a pot belly?," "How important is physical appearance in the people the child loves?"
  • Use the stories, behaviors, and statements of characters to discuss the child's beliefs about issues related to sexuality, including safe sex, pregnancy, AIDS, and more.

EVALUATION:

  • Use questions before and after the technique to see whether the child's attitudes and beliefs have changed.

 

Health: Drugs and nutrition

GOALS:

  • Help the child to understand benefits and risks of health choices
  • Increase the likelihood that the child will make responsible choices in this area

ACTIVITIES:

  • Watch television with the child and point out health-related decisions and their consequences. Ask whether the child believes they are realistic.
  • Watch commercials for food products that aren't nutritious and discuss this with the child. Ask why the ad makes the foods seem to be good for you and how you can tell they aren't.

EVALUATION:

  • Use questions before and after the technique to see whether the child's attitudes and intended behaviors have changed.

 

Copyright © 2004 Matthew Lombard