Goals
Brief description of the issue
A strong endorsement of gender stereotypes is associated with higher school dropout rates, for boys as well as for girls. These stereotypes are widely shared by the media: advertisements, movies, children’s books, video games, etc. It is therefore important to put specific activities on this topic in place (like this one!) to break down gender stereotypes with children.
This lesson plan named Media Kids has been created by MediaSmarts, “a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization for digital and media literacy. Our vision is that children and youth have the critical thinking skills to engage with media as active and informed digital citizens.”
According to the website’s description, this lesson allows students to “deconstruct gender portrayal and depictions of boys and girls in the media. They begin by looking at the appearance and mannerisms of boys and girls in TV, movies, ads and comic books and identify any stereotypes that are used. In a series of group activities, students explore gender stereotypes and representation in greater depth, as well as compare these representations to their own life experiences.”
Click on the link below to download the lesson plan.