At the Controls: Questioning Video and Computer Games (Fact Finders: Media Literacy)

Andersen, Neil

ISBN 10: 0736867686 ISBN 13: 9780736867689

Publisher: Fact Finders, 2007

Synopsis

"Describes what media is, how video and computer games are a part of media, and encourages readers to question the medium's influential messages"--Provided by publisher.

About this title

About the Author

Neil Andersen is a Capstone Author

Review

These titles are designed to help children critique the media and understand the motives behind the production of popular entertainment. Each one makes it clear that producers create movies, magazines, TV programs, and online sites with particular audiences in mind, and that they target them by showing these specific population groups what they want to see. The authors also show how the media influences their audience and promotes particular values. All of the titles are organized around five basic questions: Who made the message and why? Who is the message for? How might others view the message differently? What is left out of the media? How does the message get and keep my attention? The books are written in a breezy style and have plenty of popping colors and photos. Sidebars labeled Try it out! suggest interesting activities that children can do to get firsthand experience with creating media and commercials. Each book has a spread indicating various jobs within each field. All of them show children how media is created and manipulated to attract attention and not necessarily to reflect reality. They also emphasize that what is left out of productions can be just as important as what is included. Overall, these are useful and attractive books that encourage children to begin thinking about media with necessary skepticism. --School Library Journal;Vol. 53, No. 6; Page 165, June 2007

Media educators say that getting a foothold on the young kids is critical to our success. However, many elementary teachers feel insecure in launching a basic program without reasonable teaching resources to back them up. To the rescue comes Capstone Press with its Fact Finders series covering movies, music, magazines, television and online communication. Each of these 30 page, hard-cover mini books is beautifully illustrated and encourages kids to take a critical, but not a media bashing, approach. Throughout, students are asked for their opinions. Typical sections in each book include background information on a media phenomenon e.g. product placement, the different roles played by a production team and a glossary of terms. A writer of two of the mini books is AML s own Neil Andersen, earning his spurs, quite cleverly, with our American cousins. --Association for Media Literacy, March 2007

Edition details

• Publisher: Fact Finders
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0736867686
• ISBN 13: 9780736867689
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 32