Media Literacy Across the Centuries

Abstract

Learning how to become a critical consumer of technology is more vital than ever, because anyone and everyone, however misinformed or unqualified, has access to spreading information to a worldwide audience. In fact, misinformation has existed from the beginning of recorded history – ever since messages have been communicated through the written word, speech, and the arts. The challenges this presents for teachers are 1) How to give students the tools to think critically; 2) More specifically, how to teach students to be critical users of media, whether computers in the 21st century or eyewitness accounts and art work from centuries ago; and 3) History/Social science, such an vital opportunity for critical thinking and multiple perspectives, is often the forgotten curriculum in elementary classrooms. By using resources and frameworks from gifted education, inquiry, history-social science and literacy, there are tools available to help students become responsible consumers of information. In this chapter, an Inquiry Lesson is presented which incorporates all these frameworks.