Artifact 6

This media literacy ethnography project focused on the body images of kindergarten and first grade students at Crossnore Elementary School and how the media has affected their views.

Context
This artifact was created at Appalachian State University under the supervision of Jeff Goodman. In the fall of 2002, as part of our "Integrating Media and Technology into Teaching" course, three classmates and I undertook a research project at our internship placement school, Crossnore Elementary. The four of us were working in Kindergarten and First grade placements. We wanted to find out how much the media had already affected the body images of these young children. In our research and the development of our final presentation, we used digital still cameras, digital video cameras, the internet for additional research, Adobe Photoshop, scanner, IMovie and, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Our final product was a PowerPoint presentation highlighting our discoveries, which was shared with our colleagues and would also be appropriate to share with parents.

Impact
By participating in the media ethnography project, I collected, analyzed, and presented information on the influences of mass media on students and schools. From data collected at Crossnore Elementary School in Crossnore, North Carolina, I was able to identify and better understand the power of television and magazine advertising on students. The ethnography project broadened my awareness of the influences that television shows, commercials, and magazine advertisements have on students. As a teacher I could use Media Literacy Ethnography to make students and teachers more aware of media influences. Students could observe my production from Crossnore Elementary School and then create their own production about media influences in their personal lives and in their school. Instead of having the instruction come directly from the teacher, students could learn from their own investigation and technology product that they design to present the information to the class. Teachers could even expand this project by having their classes participate in the project. This project and others like it could also present valuable information to parents about the influence that the media has over the children. With this information, parents can make better, more informed choices for their children. Students and teachers would not only benefit from becoming informed about media influence in the school and with children, but would also meet several North Carolina Standard Course of Study requirements addressing technology, language arts and writing.

Alignment
The Media Literacy Ethnography project aligns with technology competencies IV B and VI D. This project aims to learn more about media influences on children and their body images. We presented the students with various images taken from magazines and asked them questions regarding these images. We used a digital video camera to tape the interviews with students and still cameras to capture images of the students. The purpose behind the Media Ethnography project was to make us, as future teachers, more aware of the impact and influence of media in students' lives. While creating this artifact, we had to think about the safety of the students by asking permission to take pictures of the students. Some parents did not want their children's images to be used. One of the children in this situation was part of our research group, so we could not show his face in our presentation. This project seeks to answer how the media affects student behavior and health. With the information we gained from this project and communicated to out peers, we can be more aware of the effects that media has on children and be prepared to battle the negative effects. Older students could complete a similar activity, allowing them to learn how media has positive and negative uses. They can determine the impact media has on society and learn how to protect themselves and not believe everything they see. The final product of this project was a PowerPoint presentation made to our peers and professor illustrating our findings. This presentation could also be made to other teachers, administrators, and parents to inform them about the influence that the media has on children, even at this young age.