Students will then develop, distribute and analyze a survey related to these media topics. Review the Academic Content Standards related to this lesson. Assess the popularity of various television shows aimed at people their age and the appropriateness of the content of these shows for different ages. Investigate the current television rating system and the content descriptors it incorporates by defining the descriptors for different age groups and then comparing their definitions to an official description of the rating system. Develop a survey related to the featured article to be distributed to the student population of the school.
Students then share their responses.
Then, discuss what their parents' views are of their children's television viewing. Ask students if they have ever noticed television ratings at the beginning of shows or in television guides. Explain to students that they will be speculating on what the content descriptors mean for different television ratings by age. Divide students into small groups of three or four, and give each group a large piece of paper or poster board and some markers. Ask students to compare their definitions for different age groups with those that are currently used to rate television shows.