Factual accuracy and the cultural context of science in popular media: Perspectives of media makers, middle school students, and university students on an entertainment television program

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 596-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Szu ◽  
Jonathan Osborne ◽  
Alexis D. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Science Content ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Public ◽  
Entertainment Television ◽  
Scientific Facts

Popular media influences ideas about science constructed by the public. To sway media productions, public policy organizations have increasingly promoted use of science consultants. This study contributes to understanding the connection from science consultants to popular media to public outcomes. A science-based television series was examined for intended messages of the creator and consulting scientist, and received messages among middle school and non-science university students. The results suggest the consulting scientist missed an opportunity to influence the portrayal of the cultural contexts of science and that middle school students may be reading these aspects uncritically—a deficiency educators could potentially address. In contrast, all groups discussed the science content and practices of the show, indicating that scientific facts were salient to both media makers and audiences. This suggests popular media may influence the public knowledge of science, supporting concerns of scientists about the accuracy of fictional television and film.

The Truth We Can't Afford to Ignore

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Danielle Ligocki ◽  
Martha Ann Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
School Community ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
School Students ◽  
Literacy Strategies ◽  
Participatory Literacy

Popular media has become a central aspect of life for many individuals. With that exposure to media comes imagery that contains messages both covert and overt that are readily consumed by the viewers. Adolescents are especially influenced by these images because of their frequency and use of media. This study addresses the ways in which middle school students interpret and internalize stereotypical imagery found in popular culture, specifically reality television, and examines the role of the teacher and greater school community in helping students to identify and mediate stereotypical images. Through participatory literacy strategies, classrooms everywhere can become an educative, critical, thoughtful space for both students and teacher.

Presenting Toxicology to the Public: The Middle School

1994 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 314-320
Author(s):  
Michael J. Derelanko
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Dose Response ◽  
Toxicity Testing ◽  
Animal Research ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Public ◽  
Basic Concepts

Toxicologists are being called upon to educate the public about the value of toxicity testing and the important role animals play in this regard. This article discusses the importance of toxicologists educating students in the middle school about the science of toxicology and suggests various ways to convey basic concepts of toxicity, dose response, and animal research to students in these grades. The methods described in this article have been developed and used successfully by the author in making presentations to middle school students.

scholarly journals Teenagers’ Public Library Needs are Difficult to Determine

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Jason Martin
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Public ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Stratified Sample

Abstract Objective – To discover the attitudes of twelve to fifteen year-olds toward the public library. Design – Mixed methodology consisting of a survey and focus groups. Setting – An Eastern Canadian regional municipality. Subjects – Twelve to fifteen year-old middle school students. Methods – Using a disproportionate stratified sample and multistage clustering, the author mailed 900 surveys to middle school students; 249 surveys were completed and usable. Those students who completed the survey and who also indicated they would be willing to participate in a focus group were randomly selected to participate in nine focus groups with between 7 to 12 students in each group. Main Results – Discrepancies exist between the teens’ level of satisfaction with the library indicated on the survey (high) and expressed in the focus groups (low). Teens seldom use the public library due to: their non-existent relationship with library staff, although teens who were “active readers” used the library more; lack of appealing programs and program promotion; no teen-focused website; poor teen facilities within the library; and an overall failure of the public libraries to include teenagers. Conclusion – Public libraries need to be more responsive to teen needs to attract teens to use the library. To uncover these needs, libraries should use mixed methods of discovery.

“It Must Include Rules”

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Eliane S. Wiese ◽  
Marcia C. Linn
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Computer Models ◽  
School Science ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Science Content ◽  
School Students ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
High Level

When middle school students encounter computer models of science phenomenon in science class, how do they think those computer models work? Computer models operationalize real-world behaviors of selected variables, and can simulate interactions between the modeled elements through programmed instructions. This study explores how middle school students think about the high-level semantic meaning of those instructions, which we term rules . To investigate this aspect of students’ computational thinking, we developed the Computational Modeling Inventory and administered it to 253 7 th grade students. The Inventory included three computer models that students interacted with during the assessment. In our sample, 99% of students identified at least one key rule underlying a model, but only 14% identified all key rules; 65% believed that model rules can contradict; and 98% could not distinguish between emergent patterns and behaviors that directly resulted from model rules. Despite these misconceptions, compared to the “typical” questions about the science content alone, questions about model rules elicited deeper science thinking, with 2--10 times more responses including reasoning about scientific mechanisms. These results suggest that incorporating computational thinking instruction into middle school science courses might yield deeper learning and more precise assessments around scientific models.

scholarly journals Protecting University Students From Bullying And Harassment: A Review Of The Initiatives At Canadian Universities

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Cismaru ◽  
Romulus Cismaru
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
School Students ◽  
University Environment ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
The World ◽  
Bullying And Harassment

Students’ bullying and harassment have been shown to be a problem and more schools around the world are starting to address them. Although much of the attention and research has focused on middle-school students, addressing bullying and harassment in universities is important and makes the object of the present research. We provide an overview of how student versus student bullying and harassment are reported, monitored, and dealt with at Canadian educational institutions. Specifically, we identify schools where there is information and policies regarding students’ persecution; we describe how colleges help and what advice they offer; we discuss frameworks used to tackle it; as well, we present other initiatives aiming to prevent it. We also attempt to evaluate measures by linking them with incidence figures. This review may guide future initiatives to tackle intimidation with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of university environment.

Mathematical Lens: The Moving Ladder

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (7) ◽  
pp. 492-496
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Public Art ◽  
Pythagorean Theorem ◽  
Large Collection ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Public

For many years, Ron Lancaster's middle school students have interacted with the public art shown in photographs 1 and 2 during a math trail. Selections from the Synopsis of Categories (1992), by Micah Lexier, consists of a large collection of aluminum ladders fixed to the walls of Metro Hall, a building in downtown Toronto. Hundreds of words appear on the rungs of the ladders (see photographs 3 and 4). While standing in front of these ladders, students were asked to think about question 1. After discussing this question, students used metersticks and the Pythagorean theorem to try to resolve it.

scholarly journals Bullying: University Students Bring a Moral Perspective to Middle School Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
May A. Webber
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
University Students ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Moral Perspective ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Ethics Course

The prevalence of bullying and cyber-bullying in younger age groups has led to the inclusion of bullying in school-level curricula to address the seriousness of this issue and the prevention of these types of behavior. Higher education in its philosophy curricula can play a significant role in this regard as well. Proposed in this paper is an undergraduate ethics course Bullying and Moral Responsibility in which bullying is addressed from a moral perspective. This course has an academic-service learning component whereby this moral perspective is introduced to middle school students by university students. Peer learning of this sort might be of assistance in anti-bullying efforts.

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