Resources for Teachers - Violence
In this lesson students learn about the systems used to classify films, TV programs and video games. Students are asked to take a critical look at the criteria applied to classify these media products, and then take into account and discuss the underlying social and political aspects arising from those systems.
This lesson focuses on put-down mentality in the media.
In this lesson, students become aware of the types and amounts of violence in children’s programming, and how media violence influences young viewers.
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.
Level: Grades 11 and 12
Duration: 1½ to 2 hours class time
About the Author: Robert Porter, Sarah Keeshan, and Jane Bailey
This lesson plan is a joint project of MediaSmarts and The eQuality Project, a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.