Developing Media Literacy in Young Adults ― Culture, Creativity and Critique

What are children of different ages capable of understanding about media?

How does their learning develop over time?

How can their learning about one aspect of media impact upon their learning about other areas?

Developing Media Literacy is a succinct introduction to contemporary approaches to media education. Underpinned by the findings of a major research study into children’s media literacy, it offers clear accounts of the key areas of the media curriculum, extensive evidence about children’s changing cultural experiences, and engaging exploration of effective classroom practice and children’s media work.

It covers a wide range of media themes and topics such as advertising, horror films, celebrity, news, computer games and popular television and is illustrated throughout by examples of students’ media productions. Key issues considered include:

• Rationales for media teaching
• What and how children might learn about media at different ages
• Understanding media language, representation, institutions and audiences
• Changing ideas about young people’s relationships with media
• Differences between students’ and teachers’ media experiences and preferences
• Media education and broader theories of learning
• Curriculum design and assessment.

Written by leading, internationally recognised researchers in the field, this new title will be essential reading for all teachers, students and researchers interested in the development of media education.

David Buckingham is Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, London University, where he directs the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. Heis the author, co-author or editor of 25 books, including most recently Beyond Technology (2007), Youth, Identity and Digital Media (2008) and Video Cultures: Media Technology and Amateur Creativity (2009). His next book The Material Child: Growing Up in Consumer Culture will be published by Polity Press later this year.

Andrew Burn is Professor of Media Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. He taught English, Media and Drama in schools for over twenty years, and led the media initiative in the country's first specialist Media Arts school. Recent books include Media Literacy in Schools (2007) and Making New Media (2009).

Becky Parry worked as a secondary teacher of English and Media Studies and then as Education Manager at the Showroom cinema where she established the Showcomotion festival of film and media for children and young people, www.showcomotion.org.uk. Becky is now in the process of submitting her ESRC funded PhD, entitled ‘Movies teach movies: Exploring what children learn about narrative from children’s films’ at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Mandy Powell has taught Film and Media Studies in secondary schools, further education colleges and universities in Scotland. She worked as an examiner for the Scottish Qualifications Authority, as a specialist adviser on Media Studies to the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and has been a member of the Education Committee of Scottish Screen.