Artifact # 8
Presentation on Violence in the Media and how it affects children: a presentation to my peers combining the viewing of tape-recorded cartoons, a survey and a role-play activity.
Context:
This project was created for my Art in the Elementary Classroom class
during the spring semester 2000. A standard VHS VCR was used to record
Saturday morning cartoons from the television and then to play them back
for the class. The surveys and fact sheets were created using Microsoft
Word.
Impact:
This presentation is intended for fifth graders. It can be used
as a way to help them realize just how much violence they are actually
exposed to in a mere four minute clip of a cartoon. The students
can then use this information to make a more informed choice in their television
viewing decisions and possibly see how this violence on TV is duplicated
in the real world.
Alignment:
In selecting the cartoon clip to use for this project, I recorded two
hours worth of Saturday morning cartoons from a local cable channel (Tech
Comp. 12.6). From this tape, I chose a four-minute clip to present
to the class. While they watched the clip, they were to record how
many acts of violence they saw. This activity encourages the students
to be active in their television watching. The answers varied and
my peers were astonished to find out that it was only a four minute clip,
as many of them thought it was much longer. The activity presented
to my peers, if used in a fifth grade classroom, can be useful in bringing
to light the amount of violence that is in children’s programs and how
it affects those who watch it. The students can also be asked to
offer ideas as to how we, as a community, can try to change things for
the better.