Adversmarts: Understanding Food Advertising Online

In this lesson, students are introduced to the idea of online advertising and look at the ways that marketers create immersive and appealing online environments that draw and hold children’s attention. After studying common advertising techniques, students play an educational game online that lets them put their learning into action by “creating” a site advertising a fictitious cereal, Co-Co Crunch. Students then look at examples of real commercial environments and watch for “weasel words” used by advertisers. 

Digital Citizenship, Digital Health, Food Marketing, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & Consumerism, Online Marketing

Adversmarts: Introduction to Food Advertising Online

In this lesson, students are introduced to the idea of online advertising and look at the ways that marketers create immersive and appealing online environments that draw and hold children’s attention. After studying common advertising techniques, students play an educational online game that lets them put their learning into action by “creating” a site advertising a fictitious cereal, Co-Co Crunch.

Digital Citizenship, Digital Health, Food Marketing, Internet & Mobile, Marketing & Consumerism, Online Marketing

Put Your Best Face Forward

In this lesson, students start by discussing the phenomenon of “selfies” and serve as experts in advising the teacher on the standards by which the “best” selfies are judged. They then discuss a number of statements taken from interviews with youth that highlight issues of self-representation, body image and gender standards, and learn about “photoshopping” images. Finally, students apply what they have learned by modifying an image that is at least 50 years old to meet “selfie” standards.

Body Image, Digital Citizenship, Digital Health, Internet & Mobile, Social Networking

Talking to kids about media violence

Talking to kids about violence in the media they consume – television, movies, video games, music and the Internet – can help them put media violence into perspective and perhaps diffuse some of its power. 

Internet & Mobile, Movies, Music, Television, Video Games, Violence

Managing Music in the Home

A tip sheet for parents on how to manage music in the home.

Music

Screen-Free Week

Screen-Free Week is an annual event that traditionally takes place in May. Each year people from around the world make a conscious decision to turn off screens of all kinds for the week.

Digital Health, Excessive Internet Use, Internet & Mobile, Parents, Resources, Television, Video Games

Music - Overview

Music is one of the most popular and powerful forms of media that kids and teens consume: more than half of Canadian teens say they would die without it, and nearly all consider it very important to their lives. [1]

Music

Inappropriate Content in Music

Pushing the boundaries for artistic expression has always been a part of popular music. However, the drive for profits may also be pushing the envelope of what is acceptable. In this section we examine some of the issues in today's music.

Music

Excessive Internet Use - Overview

We don’t always hear the clock ticking when we’re online, and young people are no exception. Between doing research for homework, talking with friends, updating social media and playing games, it’s easy to see how kids and teens might lose track of time.

Digital Citizenship, Digital Health, Excessive Internet Use, Internet & Mobile

DIY Media: Mashups, fan movies, and machinima

This is the second in a series of columns looking at the history and future of Web 2.0. In the last instalment of this series we examined the origins of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic and some of the issues around the definition of “user-created content.” Turning from the theoretical to the practical, we'll now take a look at just what is actually out there, and begin to examine some of the ethical and legal implications.

Internet & Mobile, Media Production, Movies, Music, Video Games