Media Smarts
Packaging Tricks
As part of their study of how advertisers use various techniques to influence consumers, kids examine the design, the promotions, and the product placement in the packaging of their favorite foods.
Curated OER
Media Literacy: Discovering and Understanding Propaganda
Ninth graders study different types of propaganda and select an issue that is significant to them. In this exploratory lesson students design and create posters on the topic of their choice and write a narrative describing it.
Curated OER
Come On, You Can Trust Me
Fourth graders see how to define and then recognize a variety of propaganda techniques at work in their everyday world. Choosing one technique, they creatively demonstrate a thorough understanding from real world experiences. A very rich...
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Are We under the Influence? A First Look
Learners explore propaganda techniques. In this media awareness lesson plan, students watch instructor-selected commercial clips and identify the propaganda techniques used in each of them using the provided propaganda handouts.
Curated OER
What Is the Influence?
Students investigate propaganda techniques. In this media awareness lesson plan, students watch instructor-selected commercial clips and use the provided propaganda handouts to identify the propaganda techniques used in each of them.
Curated OER
Ready, Set, Action
Young scholars identify propaganda techniques used in commercials created by their classmates. In this active listening lesson, students use the provided scoring guide to evaluate commercials that their classmates made that feature...
Curated OER
Triumph of the Will
Students view the propaganda film, "Triumph of the Will". Identifying propaganda techniques used, they review any fallacies in logic or persuasive appeals. They discover elements in German culture and their meaning in 1934. They...
Curated OER
Determining Author's Point of View: The Sneeches
Determine the author's point of view in a text. Young readers read Dr. Seuss' The Sneeches and identify the author's purpose in the story. They identify persuasive techniques in writing, asking and answering questions to better...
Curated OER
WWI Propaganda
Students research propaganda from World War I and compare it with propaganda used today. They define propaganda and discuss the five techniques used by advertisers, conduct Internet research, and create a project that compares how...
Curated OER
Are We under the Influence? A Second Look
Learners explore propaganda techniques. In this media awareness lesson, students watch instructor-selected commercial clips and identify the propaganda techniques used in each of them using the provided propaganda handouts.
Curated OER
Understanding Propaganda
Students define propaganda and give examples from the mass media. In this propaganda lesson, students review examples of propaganda and then research versions of it in the mass media.
Curated OER
Script Reading
Students investigate propaganda techniques. In this media awareness instructional activity, students watch drug commercial clips and identify the purpose of pacing in advertising.
Curated OER
Recognizing Advertising Techniques
Students explore advertising techniques. In this media awareness lesson, students read articles about foods and their links to childhood obesity. Students also discuss propaganda techniques that advertisers use to sell certain foods.
School Improvement in Maryland
Evaluating Political Advertisements
How do interest groups try to influence elections? As part of their study of the election process, groups view 30-second advertisements produced by advocacy groups and use the provided worksheet to evaluate these ads. They then craft...
Curated OER
Propaganda
Ninth graders examine local examples of propaganda, such as election or political ads in order to identify types of propaganda and find examples of these in various media.
Nemours KidsHealth
Alcohol: Grades 9-12
Two activities ask high schoolers to consider the role of alcohol culture in their lives. First, groups analyze the types of appeals used in newspaper ads for alcoholic drinks and compare those images with what they have observed....
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms and the...
Curated OER
Guidelines for Recognizing Persuasiveness, Propaganda, and Stereotypes
Students investigate advertisements for examples of persuasiveness, propaganda, and stereotypes. In this persuasion lesson, students find examples of advertisements that are unusual or common. Students discuss guidelines for...
Curated OER
Techniques Used to Convey Media Messages
Learners consider the impact of media messages. For this media awareness lesson, students discover the types of media techniques employed in advertising and share examples of each as they create media message collages.
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Recognizing Propaganda - Unreliable Testimony
Students investigate how product endorsements can be a form of propaganda. They analyze various shampoo ads, discuss celebrity endorsements and unreliable testimony, and create a written non-propaganda ad for or against a celebrity...
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Truth in Advertising
Does propaganda exist in popular media? Explore the concept of propaganda in this media education lesson. Middle schoolers examine persuasive techniques used in commercials. They then create commercials that feature truthful information.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Marketing a Bad Idea: Why So Many People Joined the Klan in the 1920s
How did the Klu Klux Klan manage to gain so many members during the 1920s? Class members examine Klan documents and promotional materials to gain an understanding of the propaganda techniques used to attract members.
Media Smarts
Looking at Food Advertising
Tony The Tiger, The HoneyComb Kid, The Nestle Quick Bunny. As part of a study of the methods advertisers use to sell foods and how this advertising effects their food choices, kids create their own spokescharacter and/or jingle for one...
Curated OER
Hidden Persuaders
High schoolers examine classic propaganda techniques to analyze factors which influence learning and thinking processes influencing formation of public opinion through these lessons.