Ethics Overview

Many curricular expectations in Alberta Ethics courses relate to media and digital literacy. The following excerpts from Ethics A.1 (Junior High) (1985) detail how media and digital literacy have been integrated into the curriculum:

Junior Kindergarten / Kindergarten

The Northwest Territories has a single curriculum for kindergarten that is based on play-based learning as outlined in the document NWT Right from the Start: Early Childhood Development Framework and Action Plan.

Social Studies 4-12

The social studies program in Alberta contains expectations that complement the critical thinking approach of media education. The Alberta social studies curriculum states,

In our changing society, students will need to be practised at using a variety of skills and strategies. Students will need to be able to acquire knowledge, to interpret and communicate information, and to solve problems and make decisions. In doing all of this, students require a wide range of critical and creative thinking skills and strategies that they can apply to a variety of situations.

Arts Education

The British Columbia Arts Education curriculum promotes the development of artistic habits of mind, categorized as exploring and creating, reasoning and reflecting, and communicating and documenting. Digital media literacy is present throughout these curricular competencies, which include a focus on relationships between the arts and various cultures and societies, reflecting on and making connections between creative processes, and considering how audience negotiate meaning.

Mathematics

The Ontario mathematics curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The grade curriculum document Mathematics (2007) includes a section that explains how mathematical concepts such as probability can be applied to media criticism:

Transferable Skills

Starting in 2018-2019, Ontario students are assessed on Transferrable Skills such as critical thinking, global citizenship, communication and collaboration. According to the document Transferable Skills (n.d.),

Narratives of violence against women and diverse communities

Popular culture, news media, and the way we consume violence on social media all play significant roles in shaping and reinforcing narratives of violence against women and diverse communities. 

Body Image – Traditional Media

Traditional media like film, print and music still have a significant impact on young people’s body image. Research has found that even news coverage can promote weight bias by how it portrays people in larger bodies, both in photographs and in how it frames weight and health.

The Good Things About Television

Television is an inescapable part of modern culture. We depend on TV for entertainment, news, education, culture, weather, sports—and even music, since the advent of music videos.

Talking to Youth about Online Gambling

Research shows that only a third of parents have discussed gambling with their children, perhaps because parents are generally unaware of their kids’ participation in these sorts of activities. It’s important to talk about it, though: research has found that family members' views about gambling are a major influence on how likely youth are to gamble.