Five Key Questions That Can Change the World: Classroom Activities for Media Literacy

Developed by the Center for Media Literacy (CML) as Part II of their MediaLit Kit, Five Key Questions That Can Change the World has been designed as a resource for teachers to help students build a foundation in the skills of media literacy. The publication is a collection of 25 lesson plans, five lessons for each of CML's Five Key Questions of media literacy:

• Who created this message?
• What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
• How might different people understand this message differently than me?
• What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
• Why is this message being sent?

According to the publication, "Unlike other media literacy activity books, which typically are organized by genre (news, advertising, etc.) or topic (violence, gender, etc.), the inquiry-based lessons in Five Key Questions That Can Change the World help students build an internal checklist of questions to ask about any message in any media - television, movies, the Internet, radio, advertising, newspapers and magazines, even maps and money!" Each chapter begins with a short background essay for teachers to explore the issues conveyed in each Key Question. Then each of the five lessons begins with a brief paragraph connecting the objectives and activities of the lesson plan to just one aspect of the Key Question. This introduction is followed by an overview of the skills and knowledge the lesson aims to teach, correlation to United States McREL National Standards, materials and preparation needed to conduct the lesson, and step-by-step instructions to help organise and conduct the lesson. Scalable activities aim to help teachers adapt the lessons for varying grade levels.