MediaLiteracy: Lesson Plans

Appropriate for Art, Graphic Design, Journalism, Computer Education, and/or Media Literacy Classes. Can be taught in a face-to-face environment or online.


Rationale: A picture may well be worth a thousand words, but what is a particular picture telling us? Is it the artist's interpretation of something, or is it a message meant to influence the way we think?

“Images construct reality” (Weaver, 1999), and we are constantly surrounded by images: at the newsstand, on TV, on billboards, on the internet, at the checkout counter of nearly every store... There have been numerous studies on the effect of images on the perception of reality, all of which have shown that images can and do influence what we believe is real. In 2001 a research article entitled "The Effect of Experimental Presentation of Thin Media Images on Body Satisfaction: A Meta-Analytic Review" looked at data from 25 different studies. The conclusion of the authors was that media images can and do impact individuals perspectives on what constitutes an ideal body, and had a negative effect on how these individuals viewed themselves. The results were most profound for individuals less than 19 years old. This unit challenges students to consider the ethics of digital photo editing and the impact of images on culture, while giving them the skills to enhance and alter digital images. By manipulating images themselves, they can become more informed consumers of images. This unit challenges students to reflect on the nature of digital photography, and the integrity of photos.

Audience: Appropriate for Middle School, High School, or College Students

Objectives
Students will be able to identify and articulate the significance of various digital editing techniques.

Students will be able to articulate how “doctored” images impact culture.

Using a digital image editing program students will doctor a photograph with specific intent.

Students will be able to identify specific tools needed for specific editing techniques, and show skill in using such tools.


Standards
NH Visual Arts Standards:

#1 Apply appropriate media, techniques and processes
Grade 8
a. select media and analyze how it effectively communicates and expresses ideas;
b.use the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of their experiences and ideas;
Grade 12
a. apply media, techniques, and processes with sufficient skill, confidence, and sensitivity in ways that reflect their intentions;
b.create works of visual art that demonstrate a connection between personal expression and the intentional use of art materials, techniques, and processes;

#4 Analyze the visual arts in relation to history and culture

#6 Students will make connections among the visual arts, other disciplines, and daily life

NETS-S Standards:

#4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

#5 Digital Citizenship

Materials
-access to a computer lab (f2f)
-computer with sound capabilities and a projector (f2f)
-clickers/polleverywhere (f2f)
-LMS using "choice" (online)
-Digital Image Editing Software: Photoshop/Gimp/FotoFlexer/Piknik
-internet access
-student journal (either digital or paper)

Approximate Time Requirements

Lesson
Introduce unit by telling students that in this unit they will learn to paint with pixels (the little dots of colors that makeup a digital image. We will also look at the power of images to effect not only our emotions, but our perceptions of reality. When does something go from being “interpretive” to “deceitful” ? Is it the artist’s duty to make it clear? If a picture tells a story, and that story can be factual or fiction or historical fiction, is it the artist’s duty to make sure the audience understands the genre?

Lesson
Note: Through out this unit, students will maintain a "reflective journal". Allow 5 minutes at the end of each class for students to write a short reflection on what they learned that day. As they enter class, have them take out their journals and review what they wrote the previous day.

Introduce unit by telling students that this unit is about the power of images to effect not only our emotions, but our perceptions of reality. When does something go from being “interpretive” to “deceitful” ? Is it the artist’s duty to make it clear? If a picture tells a story, and that story can be factual or fiction or historical fiction, is it the artist’s duty to make sure the audience understands the genre?

Activity 1
This part of the lesson will use clicker (SRS) or online polling (if an online class).
Construct a poll using paintings of people, historical events, or places. With each image ask students to register how they “feel” regarding the accuracy of the painting—how closely they believe it depicts reality.

Use likert scale:
Not at all accurate
Somewhat accurate
Mostly accurate
Completely Accurate
Suggested paintings:

-Leutze “George Washington Crossing the Delaware”
-David’s “Napoleon in his Study”
-Last supper (DaVinci)
-self-portrait of Monet, etc
-Alma-Tadema’s “ The Women of Amphissa”

Ask why they thought the way they did. Ask how important it is in these paintings that the material in the painting be factually accurate? What does factually accurate mean to them in the context of art.

Activity 2
Next show several photographs from history, and from pop culture. Ask how accurate each of these photos are. Use the same rating scale as before. Ask students, in a poll, whether photos should be more accurate than a painting.
Choices in this poll: No, Sometimes, Most of the time, All of the time.

Activity 3
Break students into groups of 3 or 4. Students will explore this website:
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/
They will be asked to identify three of the images discussed, whose fakery most dramatically impacted society/culture. They will be asked to present their choices and the reasons they chose them.

Homework Assignment:
Show students videoANT and how it is used. If students are old enough to have their own email account, then they can use that email account to test videoANT before submitting an assignment. If not, have them put in your email account.
1. Go to http://ant.umn.edu/
2. Select “Click here to launch VideoANT”
Choose one of the following videos to annotate in videoANT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsiQptl_Y9E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC0Cd-aL9Q8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM

You will select a minimum of three important points in the video. Please the markers at the beginning of each important point. In the annotation area, state why you put a maker at the point: what is significant about what is being said in the video. Use a minimum of 3 sentences for each annotation.

Ideally: the annotated videos should be emailed to you for grading.

Introduction: Students will be taken into the computer lab. They will be shown how to use some of the digital editing tools in a digital image editing program. There are a number of programs available if photoshop or Gimp (which is free) is not installed on the computers. FotoFlexer and Piknik are two such programs that are available for free on the web. Students should be taught how to use a liquify tool, a cloning tool, a resizing tool. Afterwards, they should be given sufficient time to simply experiment with the software.

Students will be told that for the next two days of class, they will be in the lab working on a digital "fake". They can use images found on the internet as well as images they bring in. All images must be appropriate. (Explain "appropriate"--no swimsuits, no obscene gestures, etc). At the end of the final session, they will be sharing their before picture and after picture. They will also explain why an image might be changed in the way they changed their image.

Students will need to submit the final picture to you, along with an essay of approximately 200 words describing their process and why an image might be edited to achieve a similar effect. Where might such an image be found? And, for what purpose?

Optional activity: Students will be given digital cameras with which they can take a photo of themselves or an object in the room for use in this activity.

Assessments:

Assignment #1 (VideoAnt) will be graded on a scale: Met none of the expectations, Met some of the expectations, Met most of the expectations, Met the expectations, Met more than the expectations. Met significantly more than the expectations.

Assignment #2

Skill: Student used one appropriate tool, Student used two appropriate tools, Student used three or more appropriate tools

Technique: Work was not done with great care (sloppy)--changes are easy to identify; Most work was done with care: only a few areas appear to be sloppily done; Work was done carefully; Exceptionally done--nearly impossible to detect there was any editing

Difficulty: Minimal changes from original picture; Moderate changes were made; Significant changes were made

Critical Thinking: How well does the student make the connection between the choice of forgery, and the reasons such a forgery might be made. Is there a connection made between forgeries and their impact on viewers--purpose.

Writing: grammar, spelling and sentence structure are correct.

Assessment on Journal: students will receive a small number of points for each day's journal entry.