Anijar, K. (2003) Teaching Toward the 24th Century: Star trek as Social Curriculum (Pedagogy and popular culture) New York, Farmer Press
Chapter 4: ‘Klingon as Curriculum’ In this chapter the author discusses the Klingon language and ‘culture’ and the benefits of language acquisition. It is stated that Klingon is the fastest growing language on the planet; a statement that left me wondering ‘Why?’ While speaking a second language is globally acknowledged as having cognitive benefits, I am skeptical as to the benefit of speaking Klingon. The author goes on to discuss the fact that languages, by their very nature are dripping with cultural ties, and portrays this fact as a negative. It is also stated that learning a second language is generally considered a chore; and that Klingon (as Esperanto) can alleviate any social or cultural barriers and is ‘fun to learn’. I see little validity in these statements, as, when we go on to read the remainder of the chapter, the author makes mention of Klingon as a society, and compares it to militia, warriors and gangs…if these aren’t cultural barriers I don’t know what are. Research shows that bilinguals score higher on tests, do well academically and ultimately earn more money. This chapter presents the possibility that being fluent in Klingon has the same benefits. Klingon is not a real culture, nor is it a valid language. Klingon is a metaphor for a militant world – a make-believe world – a world of power and control. I fail to see how this is beneficial educationally or otherwise. Chapter 5: ‘Resistance is Futile’ Utilizing Star Trek as an ongoing metaphor, as well as the movie ‘Men in Black’, the author discusses quite monotonously, that the term alien is based on perspective. The predominant sense that English, white and mostly male dictate the rules and are resistant and impervious to change or “invasion” is presented as being pervasive and highly protected within the North American culture. The obvious reference to the same being said of any other culture and the sudden awareness of the Arayan state that they too are aliens depending on which side of the border one comes from and who has the greatest control is also indicated. The references to harsh and non-inclusive racist language, cultural trends and specific individuals and quotations is implied by the author to be reflective of an oppressive and reactionary North American culture and appears to completely and naively dismiss and ignore the acceptance and promotion of an integrative society of multiculturalism. The idea that resistance to assimilation of cultures is futile and dangerous fails to acknowledge Canadian ideals related to a society with governmental policies of multiculturalism, two official languages and equal hiring practices.
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Zombies are taking over pop culture. Movies, comics, TV shows…you name it…our screens and shelves are filled with images and stories of zombie attacks and disease spreading incidents. The Zombie culture is even being used by non-profit agencies to garner the public’s attention to more serious matters.
…A predictive date of destruction, elaborate re-enactments, government references, so-called ‘experts’ in the field…research, forensics, front liners…an elaborate ‘mockumentary’ to say the least. However, does this biopic do more to petrify than prepare? The use of this documentary was part of a risk campaign by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to promote emergency preparedness. http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies.asp The website itself http://www.cdc.gov/ contains much useful information, and used the Zombie Apocalypse documentary as a hook…cleverly done; but how effective is the use of social media satire in this context? How can we use social media and pop culture as an avenue for communicating risk to the general public? How effective is satire and humour in educating our youth of potential disease and disaster? While social media is a ‘free’ system for sending information viral in an instant, do the pros outweigh the cons? If we think about our potential audience – who is going to view the film? Will they see it as satire? Will it create panic of pandemic proportions? How effective is it in raising risk awareness? Will it result in more informed and prepared civilians? In their article CDC’s Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign, Fraustino and Ma discuss “the tension between awareness and behavioural-based campaign success” (Fraustino, J.D, & Ma, L., (2015) CDC's Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign—“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”, Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43:2, 222-241, DOI: 10.1080/00909882.2015.1019544) This article is definitely worth a read and opened my eyes to the world of advertising and pop culture. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2015.1019544 Exploration, Exploitation and Control – drawing parallels between science fiction and geopolitics10/1/2015 Saunders notes that science fiction can be used as an effective entry point to critically examine imperial geopolitics. Not only does it afford students the opportunity to question the content of SF, but engage in discourse analysis.
As both SF and geopolitics are based on exploration of space, exploitation of systems and control over the opposition, effective parallels can be drawn to both understand and critique current political issues. SF allows the extrapolation and exploration of potential outcomes and a modeling of potential systems. You can’t test a model for geopolitics in real time so SF allows you to explore geopolitical models without offending. For example, if we were to talk about excluding Russia from the United Nations, to predict or analyze what the potential political reality would become, our exploration would be limited, due to potential opposition based on the geopolitical allegiance. SF can become one way of discussing current political issues through the use of metaphors, thus not upsetting the geopolitical climate. However, can SF be deemed as propaganda? It is clearly not impartial and when comparisons are drawn to current geopolitical affairs, SF can become a dangerous tool of manipulation. Is SF merely biased information that offers a glimpse of the future? https://professorjt2012.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/propaganda/ Saunders, R. A. (2015) Imperial imaginaries: employing science fiction to talk about geopolitics. Popular Culture and World Politics: Theories, Methods, and Pedagogies. 149-159 Funes, V.S. (2008) Advertising and consumerism: A space for pedagogical practice. Counterpoints, Mirror Images: Popular Culture and Education 338, 159-177. Advertising is a powerful weapon; It is a seducer of the masses; A master manipulator that reconstructs realities and coerces the observer into believing they need the products being sold. It is a weapon against which our students have little critical defense. Schools develop reflective and critical attitudes; Schools transmit knowledge onto our students and try to personalize learning. However, many feel the methods and processes used in school are ineffective and old fashioned. How can we turn this around and update our teaching to incorporate this powerful medium in our classrooms? The philosophy behind Fune's work is intriguing. Though some of the references are dated, and several assumptions/blanket statements are made about teachers and how media is used in public education, the root of the theory is definitely thought provoking. Acknowledging that there is an undeniable gap between the school culture and the media culture in which our students live, and the pedagogical experiences each one creates, is the first step to recognizing the place for advertising as a learning tool in schools. If we accept that students live in a participatory media-rich world and that many students feel they have no place in our current school system, then we can address the existing inconsistency between education systems and the socio-cultural environments in which our students live. As educators we need to dismiss our usual precautionary attitude, and instead work to fuse the two environments together for the betterment of our students. The teaching and learning process outlined ties together two pertinent issues. It takes the most provocative element of the media culture our students live in and, acknowledging their inability to be critical consumers of that media, offers ways in which the school culture can inform and educate them, while at the same time, forcing educators to question their current techniques and pedagogy. In my role as Literacy/Numeracy Coach I work with teachers from Kindergarten through to Grade 8 and it would be interesting to see how they interpret the objectives of this teaching and learning process. Co-creating a continuum of media/literacy learning and tying it to specific curriculum expectations, along with planning for implementation and designing developmentally relevant activities would definitely be worthy of exploration. Data would need to be gathered to see if and how this approach impacted our students. What measures would we take? Who would our control group be? What parameters would be set and how would achievement gains be measured? Lastly, I wanted to share a couple of websites I found, that I could potentially use with my teachers. Mediasmarts Media Mash Up In The Classroom Wong, D., Henriksen, D. (2008). If ideas were fashion. Counterpoints, Mirror Images: Popular Culture and Education 338, 179-198.
In this piece, Wong and Henrickson investigate the idea of using fashion as a framework for teaching and learning. If fashion enhances our lives by adding interest, meaning and beauty to our every day, it makes sense that today’s youth are infatuated by it. If only we could get our learners to observe, create and engage in the educational experiences we offer them in the same way they observe, create and engage in fashion…Maybe we can! This article suggests using fashion as a scaffold for thinking about our teaching and learning. Focusing on the similar experiential qualities that exist between students’ lives in and out of school, can we enliven our learners and foster engagement, creativity and critical observation? How do we as educators foster creativity and possibility and include visual and tactile forms of expression? We need to attune ourselves to the psychological qualities that make fashion and ultimately learning so engaging. How do we capture a natural playful open-mindedness, reflective of that students’ experience in their everyday lives? How do we engage emotion and intellect? To fashion is to style or create so how do we help students ‘fashion a worthwhile existence? How do we get ideas to live on beyond the immediate experience? How can we get our students to imagine possibility? We learn best in the ‘flow zone’, where we naturally and spontaneously hope, dream, create and desire; where we face goals that are challenging yet achievable. The challenge for teachers is how we help our students to enter and remain in this zone of optimal learning and productivity. Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s research lends itself to this exact question, and the importance of an exact balance between challenge and skill level. http://www.positivefuturesguide.com/free/Flowcond.html |
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November 2015
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