Media literacy and the teaching of civics and social studies at the dawn of the 21st century

This article discusses the critical importance of media education to the teaching of civics and social studies and examines approaches to civics via media literacy. Useful Web site resources are also given. This article argues that in a representative democracy, people must be educated in all forms of contemporary mediated expression and well beyond the print media. The state of media education in the United States, relative to other countries, and the growing presence of core curricular frameworks in the 50 states that call on teachers to hell) their students become more media literate are also discussed.