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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (April 18, 2006) — Milligan College communications and psychology students will be at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Johnson City at 4 p.m. today to research media effects on children and counsel the young pupils on how to recognize the effects advertising might have on them.
“I hope through our lessons we might teach these children about media literacy and hopefully how to be better consumers of media, particularly advertising,” said Dr. Joy Drinnon, Milligan College associate professor of psychology and director of the course.
The students will be back at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club on Thursday, April 20, as well as Tuesday, April 25, and Thursday, April 27, to complete the units on media literacy.
The project, supported by the Institute for Servant Leadership as part of the college’s Lilly Grant, will teach four hands-on units. Some of the groups will be creating commercials while others will be working to develop print advertisements such as posters, magazine ads and newspaper ads.
“I have been teaching the course Media Effects on Children and Adolescents for three years now,” explained Drinnon. “One of my objectives has always been to teach my students to become advocates for media literacy. Through this program the students will help teach children the importance of understanding media, as well as learning how the children themselves perceive certain messages through advertising.”
Milligan students hope to teach the children to recognize and evaluate advertising using five key questions: Who created the message? What creative techniques are used to attract our attention? How might different people understand the message differently from me? What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in, or omitted from the message? Why is this message being sent?
For more information contact Joy Drinnon at 423.461.8661, or JRDrinnon@milligan.edu .