In this lesson, students deconstruct gender portrayal and depictions of boys and girls in the media. They begin by looking at the appearance and mannerisms of boys and girls in TV, movies, ads and comic books and identify any stereotypes that are used. In a series of group activities, students explore gender stereotypes and representation in greater depth, as well as compare these representations to their own life experiences.

This lesson helps students become more aware of the media's role in determining what, and who, are perceived as being cool.

This lesson familiarizes children with how and why “junk food” is advertised to kids. The lesson starts with an introduction to advertising and a discussion of the gimmicks involved in food advertising to kids. Students discuss the various foods they see advertised in their daily lives versus the ones they don’t see, drawing important points from this data. With this information in mind, students complete an advertising log and also choose an advertisement and analyzing its subject matter in relation to what they have just learned.

This teaching unit helps students to become more aware of the language and techniques used in print advertising, as well as the impact of advertising on their daily lives.

This lesson looks at food photography and the different techniques used by food stylists to make foods look appealing in advertisements.

This lesson helps children become aware of the types of violence that appear in the media, the frequency with which these acts occur, and how they respond to these acts. It begins with a guided discussion about the different types of violence and then, how violence is portrayed in the media. Using worksheets, students then survey the shows they enjoy for acts of violence and then, as a class, compile and discuss their findings.

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. 

Somewhat surprisingly, it’s not only struggling students who plagiarize: indeed, it may be students who are under pressure to achieve who are more likely to engage in the subtler (and harder to detect) forms of plagiarism¹. Researchers have identified three situations where this is most likely: when students are under pressure (such as when work must be done with a tight deadline, or a work is particularly important for their grades); when students are not interested in the work; and when students feel that the assignment is unfair to the point where they have no hope of success without cheating².

Search Engines

Internet search engines are a big part of how we find things online. You can get the most out of them by learning how they work, and how to use them quickly and effectively.

To introduce students to the organizations of the Canadian broadcasting industry, and to the codes, guidelines and issues relating to violence, ethics, representation, advertising and the accuracy of news in television and radio programming.