Social Studies 8-12

Media education in the British Columbia Social Studies curriculum is addressed in the currilum organizer Skills and Processes of Social Studies. Media analysis is also identified as a consideration for program delivery.

Analysis of media messages is a valuable component of Social Studies 10, and allows students to think critically and independently about issues that affect them.

The following concepts of media education are examples of the ways in which teachers and students can examine a range of media messages relevant to Social Studies 10:

• Purpose: People use media messages to inform, entertain, and/or persuade for political, commercial, educational, artistic, moral, and/or other purposes.
• Values: Media messages communicate explicit and implicit values.
• Representation: Media messages are constructed; they are only representations of real or imaginary worlds.
• Codes, Conventions, and Characteristics: Each medium has its own set of codes, conventions, and characteristics that affect the way messages are transmitted and understood.
• Production: People who understand the media are better able to make purposeful media messages.
• Interpretation: Audience members bring their knowledge, experience, and values to their interpretation of and emotional response to media messages.
• Influence of Media on Audience: Media messages can influence people’s attitudes, behaviours, and values.
• Influence of Audience on Media: People can influence media institutions and the messages they produce and transmit.
• Control: People who control a society’s dominant institutions have disproportionate influence on the construction and distribution of media messages and the values they contain.
• Scope: Media technologies influence and are influenced by the political, economic, social, and intellectual dimensions of societies.
  
  Source: Social Studies, Grade 10: Integrated Resource Package, 2006.
  British Columbia Ministry of Education
  http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/social_studies/2006ss_10.pdf

On the left sidebar you will find outcome charts containing media education learning outcomes from the Social Studies curriculum, with links to supporting free resources on the MediaSmarts site. As many of our lessons can be adapted to suit different grade levels, some lessons may be listed for more than one grade. Teachers should also note that individual lessons often satisfy a number of learning outcomes.