Learning card

Analyse, click and think on media

Description

This activity aims to make students debate about their (and others’) media practices by asking them (in groups) to stage and photograph a media situation they are familiar with or concerned about. They should reflect together on the images produced, the questions involved in the media practices/uses they represented and the role art may have in expressing feelings or situations. Photographs produced may afterwards be exhibited in the school library, expanding the debate about media uses and practices beyond the classroom.

Tag
  • Photo
  • Social Media
Skills

PRODUCTION 

  • To create and modify photographic productions
  • To use photographic and editing tools

SOCIAL MANAGEMENT 

  • To create collaboratively

PERFORMATIVE 

  • To act 

IDEOLOGY AND ETHICS

  • To evaluate and reflect 

NARRATIVE AND AESTHETICS

  • To take action and apply 

RISK PREVENTION 

  • To recognize and describe 
  • To take action and apply

 

Learning areas
  • Arts
  • Foreign Languages
  • Language
  • Religion and Ethics
Card language
  • English
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Portuguese

Structure

Sessions
2
Duration
60’ (Variable)
Number of participants
10-30
Age
  • 10-13
  • 14-16
  • 17-18
Materials
  • Camera, tablet or smartphone
  • Photo editing program or app

Process

Key questions
  • What’s your favourite media and what contents do you prefer?
  • How would you describe the amount of time you spend using media? Is it the right time, too much or not enough?
  • What are the benefits and disadvantages of spending a lot of time connected?
  • Are media decreasing our face to face communication?
  • Do you feel overwhelmed or confused by the amount of information you read/see/listen to every day?
  • Can social media participation distance us from institutional forms of participation (to vote, formal complaints…)?
  • Can you identify some risky behaviours regarding media uses (addiction, alienation, bullying, misinformation/fake news…)?
  • What would it be like to live without the Internet?
Development

In the first session, the teacher should lead the debate about media presence in the students’ (and others’) lives. He/she can start by asking students about what they like to do online the most, what their parents think about it, which are their favourite social media, and if they just receive or also produce media contents. It’s important the teacher encourages student’s reflection on their media experiences and help different perspectives about emergent topics to arrise. The teacher should then explain the exercise to the students (15’).

Students work in groups of 4-5 people. Each group has to think about a media topic that worries/disturbs them. It can be a topic experienced by them or not, they can also put themselves in another person’s shoes. If necessary, the teacher can suggest topics (see “Specific Questions” above). After they come to an agreement about the topic, they have to think of a way of representing it in one picture, where they (or at least one element of the group) will be protagonists and producers. The task of staging the situation and photographing it should be done out of class. The teacher should give groups the option of editing the image. It’s up to them whether they do it or not (45’).

For the second session, groups should print their photos and exhibit them on the wall so a final discussion with all participants can take place. Each image should be commented on first by classmates and only then by its creators. The comments should be about the interpretation of the image and also consider technical features (lightness/darkness, close/open plan, black&white/colour, movement sensation…) (60’).

Evaluation

While the final discussion takes place, students should evaluate their and others’ works. The teacher should evaluate if students are self-aware and self-critical enough based on their comments and interventions.

References for professors
Author

Sara Pereira . Universidade do Minho (Portugal), sara.pereira@ics.uminho.pt
Joana Fillol. Universidade do Minho (Portugal), joanafillol@gmail.com
Pedro Moura. Universidade do Minho (Portugal), pedromourarsp@gmail.com

  • Photo
  • Social Media