German Teachers’ Views on Promoting Scientific Media Literacy Using Advertising in the Science Classroom

Abstract

A large part of the media landscape surrounding us consists of advertising. Therefore, skills for critically coping with advertising are indispensable. Students need to develop such skills for evaluating messages and facts from advertisements. They also need to learn about the mechanisms behind how advertisements are created and used to influence the public. Today, advertising for many products has a strong scientific component. However, learning with and about advertising does not play a prominent role in school science education. To date, advertising is almost exclusively discussed and evaluated within the humanities and social sciences, especially language education. The scientific components of advertising are not taken into account in these subjects. Engaged science teachers might prove to be the key to innovation when it comes to media education in the science classroom. This study explores both the opinions of German science teachers on the importance of scientific media literacy and their attitudes to implementing teaching units covering advertising in their science classes. Semistructured interviews with 12 secondary science teachers were conducted and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Two main types of teachers were identified, who have completely different views towards learning with and about advertising in science education.

Promoting undergraduates’ awareness of the importance of thinking critically about false or inaccurate scientific information presented in news articles

“…Elements mentioned by participants include: (1) "some scientific knowledge", (2) "considering the possibility that information can be incorrect", and (3) "questioning the primary and secondary sources". The elements mentioned by the university students corroborate those suggested by several scholars (Belova and Eilks 2016;McClune andJarman 2010, 2011;Oliveras et al 2013Oliveras et al , 2014. It is interesting to note that students mentioned these elements by themselves, however, we cannot assert that our TLS was effective just because they did so.…”

“…In the current study, the concept "scientific media literacy" refers to the combination of scientific literacy with media literacy (Belova and Eilks 2016;Chang Rundgren and Rundgren 2014). According to McClune and Jarman (2010), "the primary purpose of media is not to educate, rather to inform, interpret, persuade, frequently to entertain, and, crucially, to make profit for its proprietors or at least to ensure economic viability" (p. 748).…”

Navigating Alarming Media Messages About Nutrition and Health

“…Among scholars, there are suggestions that science education for critical citizenship ought to emphasize students' knowledge about how science is produced as well as the social construction of news media (c.f. Belova and Eilks 2016;Chang Rundgren and Rundgren 2014;Eilks et al 2014;Stuckey et al 2015). Of particular interest to this study, and in alignment with previous studies of news media in science education (c.f.…”

“…The gradually increased emphasis on students' "media awareness" or "media savviness" in science education research is reflected in several contemporary studies focusing on the development of students' critical examination of science in media (Belova and Eilks 2016;Solli et al 2017;Wiblom et al 2017). When a panel of British science and English teachers, science journalists, science communicators, and media educators were interviewed about key aspects of critical examination relevant for science education, they highlighted knowledge across four interrelated domains: science knowledge, media awareness, literacy, and the habit of an enquiring mind (McClune and Jarman 2010).…”

Developing Students’ Critical Reasoning About Online Health Information‬: a Capabilities Approach‬

“…Using science-related media for such purposes can be described as learning science through media. However, several recent studies highlight the importance of also learning about the media being used (Belova and Eilks 2016;Chang Rundgren and Rundgren 2014;McClune and Jarman 2014). Learning through and about media is suggested as a way to develop students' capabilities to critically approach and use science-related online information (Belova and Eilks 2016).…”