Media Literacy Education Workshop with Families for the Prevention of Substance Use in Elementary School Students

Research

Purpose: To create a one-session media literacy education workshop, hosted by teachers, to provide elementary school children who have completed the Media Detective program with opportunities to reinforce and practice their media literacy skills with their parents.

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OVERVIEW

This project involved the creation and evaluation of a media literacy education, substance misuse prevention program for parents and their children, called Media Detective Family Night.

The program builds upon the Media Detective program and consists of a one-session media literacy education workshop that is hosted by late elementary school teachers.

Parents and children collaborate on engaging media literacy activities, and parents view media advocacy posters created by their children. Families receive a workbook of activities they can do with their children with examples of how they can mediate their child’s media consumption and strengthen their child’s media literacy skills at home.

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A feasibility study of the program was conducted in two elementary classrooms, and teacher, student, parent, and observer feedback were obtained to provide systematic input on the feasibility and quality of the program. Findings from the study indicated positive gains on several key outcomes as a result of participating in Media Detective Family Night. In addition, parents, students, and teachers gave the program overwhelmingly positive reviews.