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Wacky Media Songs: Reading Media

This lesson series contains discussion topics and extension activities for teachers to integrate the TVOKids Original series Wacky Media Songs. This lesson focuses on how media are made, how different media and genres tell stories and communicate meaning, and the affordances and defaults of different networked media.

Food Marketing, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & Consumerism, Media Literacy 101, Movies, Music, Television

Wacky Media Songs: Media Health

Level: Grade K to 3

About the author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 10-15 minutes per activity

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

Digital Health, Excessive Internet Use, Food Marketing, Video Games

Wacky Media Songs: Consumer Awareness

Level: Grade K to 3

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 10-15 minutes per activity

Consumer Awareness

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Digital Health, Food Marketing, Marketing & Consumerism, Media Literacy 101, Online Marketing

Talk Back! How to Take Action on Media Issues

Talk Back! How to Take Action on Media Issues gives you the tools to talk back to media companies.

Digital Citizenship, Diversity in Media, Food Marketing, Gender Representation, Journalism & News, Marketing & Consumerism, Movies, Music, Parents, Sports, Stereotyping, Television, Video Games, Violence

Ontario Health Curriculum: Media and Digital Literacy Connections for K-12

The new Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum released this year by the Ontario Ministry of Education is the first major revision to the subject area in almost 30 years.

Body Image, Cyberbullying, Digital Health, Diversity in Media, Excessive Internet Use, Food Marketing, Gender Representation, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & Consumerism, Online Ethics, Professional Development, Resources, Social Networking, Video Games

Protecting Your Privacy on Commercial Apps and Websites

Almost all of kids’ favourite apps and websites make money from targeted advertising, which uses their personal information to choose which ads to show them. Many of them also sell the data they collect to data brokers, which use information from many sources to make detailed profiles of users. Some also share it with other apps that are owned by the same company, such as Google and YouTube or Instagram and Facebook. 

Cyber Security, Internet & Mobile, Online Marketing, Privacy

The Privacy Dilemma

In this lesson students learn the ways that the apps they use are designed to encourage them to share more information—both with other users and with the apps themselves. They are then introduced to the idea of persuasive design or “dark patterns” and investigate whether these are used to make it more difficult to opt out of data collection on popular apps. Finally, the class creates a “rogues’ gallery” to help them identify dark patterns when they encounter them.

Digital Citizenship, Internet & Mobile, Online Marketing, Privacy, Social Networking

Online Marketing to Kids: Protecting Your Privacy

This lesson introduces students to the ways in which commercial apps and websites collect personal information from kids and to the issues surrounding children and privacy on the Internet. Students begin by considering how comfortable they would be with people knowing various things about them, and then watch and discuss a video which explains how targeted advertising works. They then explore the idea of targeted advertising through a class exercise in which Prince Charming tries to target Cinderella with an ad for glass slippers, and then analyze how their own personal information might be used to target them with ads. In the second part of the lesson, students are introduced to privacy policies and how they are rated by the website Terms of Service, Didn’t Read. They read and analyze the site’s rating for a popular app and then learn ways to limit data collection. In an extension activity, students are introduced to the idea of “dark patterns” and imagine how the Wicked Queen might use them to convince Snow White to accept “poison” cookies.

Digital Citizenship, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & Consumerism, Online Marketing, Privacy

Advertising and Male Violence

To make students aware of the ways in which male violence is used and promoted in advertising.

Body Image, Gender Representation, Marketing & Consumerism, Online Marketing, Violence

Can You Spot the Ad?

In this lesson, students will learn about the concept of branded content and will learn to differentiate between branded images and videos and non-branded images and videos in online and offline contexts through a series of questions and discussions.

Authenticating Information, Digital Citizenship, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & Consumerism, Online Marketing

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MediaSmarts is a non-partisan registered charity that receives funding from government and corporate partners to support the development of original research and educational content. Our funders and corporate partners do not influence our work, and any resources that offer guidance on specific digital tools and platforms do not constitute an endorsement.

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