Implement Media Education at Home

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Media education for this age group should consist of three crucial steps:

Parents should use the shared media time to exercise their children's media literacy. They can do so by asking their children essential questions that can help children to engage in critical thinking when consuming the media. In this module, we provide you with videos and flashcards where you can learn more about what these questions should focus on.
Children in this age group become more and more independent in their media use as they grow. This means that parents should encourage their children to be mindful of these questions also when they consume media content on their own. Parents should also convey basic ways of verifying information to their children.
Despite becoming independent in their media use, children should be aware of their parents' support and interest in their media use. Parents should show interest in their children's media use and engage in conversations on the specific media their children use. They should also be ready to help children assess which media are credible and suitable for them to use.

Watch the videos 5 Essential Media Literacy Questions for Kids and What is Media Literacy?. Have a look at the flashcards Critical Thinking to Improve Media Literacy and read the article on media literacy What is media literacy, and why is it important? This study material can help you formulate why media literacy is important. It provides useful questions that can help improve the media literacy of both parents and their children.

Since children's social environment is getting wider with age and another important topic becomes news literacy. Read the article News Literacy 101 to understand how parents can help their children evaluate new information they learn.

To understand their children's media use better, parents of children in the age of 7-8 can use the information provided in the Media Literacy in Early Childhood Report on page 14. For parents of children aged 9-12, Childnet offers some Conversation starter ideas that will enable parents to open up the conversation of media consumption and get a better idea on what areas of media education to focus on.

Read What information can I trust online? on Childnet to get an idea of what basic topics should parents cover when talking to their children about assessing media reliability. The page also includes three tips for children on how to proceed when evaluating online information.

Look at the link Media Plan Creator to get an idea of how to help parents to approach media use mindfully based on their own values and possibilities. Check out the Media Plan Checkbox to get familiar with ways parents can improve the quality of their children's media use.

If you haven't studied the previous module The Role of the Family and the Social Environment read the document Parental Mediation Strategies & Media Education Practices to learn types of mediation strategies and formulate recommendations for parents. Focus on parental mediation common for young/preadolescent children.

Exercise

Think about parents' role in children's media use and prepare the answers for these key questions:

What questions can help strengthen children's media literacy?
What are media literacy and news literacy? What skills do they involve?
What is the role of parents in their children's media use?
What mediation strategies are beneficial for this age group?

What you learn in this course

State, which elements belong to media education and name them.
Reproduce and identify forms of guidance and support in media use and media consumption.
On the basis of the knowledge acquired in modules 1 and 2 on media use and media perception, allocate guidance and support services for children between 7 and 12.
Name methods with which media (and their use) can be explored by children of this age group.
Define media use times for the age group and name and correctly allocate advantages and disadvantages.
Define general rules in the family and guide parents to translate and formulate rules for their own family.

Get ready: Tips for MediaParent consultants

Based on this module you should be able to comment on the following points:

what are the key questions both children and adults should ask when consuming media
what should parents convey when they have a conversation about media with their children
what are parental mediation strategies connected to media consumption

Be sure you know how to introduce what media and news literacy are and how important it is in children's media use.

To help parents learn how to verify news and information you can search for fact-checking websites available in your country. Fact-checking websites aim to disprove fake news and other myths that might be currently circulating in unreliable media, via chain e-mails or other media channels.

Resources

Links

What is media literacy, and why is it important?
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/articles/what-is-media-literacy-and-why-is-it-important

News Literacy 101
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/articles/news-literacy-101

Conversation starter ideas
https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/have-a-conversation/

What information can I trust online?
https://www.childnet.com/help-and-advice/what-information-can-i-trust-online/

Media Plan Creator
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/media/Pages/default.aspx

Videos

5 Essential Media Literacy Questions for Kids

What is Media Literacy?

The Problem with Parents, Kids, and Social Media

Documents

Critical Thinking to Improve Media Literacy

Media Literacy in Early Childhood Report (p. 11-13)

Parental Mediation Strategies & Media Education Practices

Media Plan Checkbox by AAP