Made You Look

Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know

By Shari Grayden   Annick Press   2003

This is an old book, and it has been rendered perishable by out of date references and changes in technology over the past ten years.

Nonetheless, I still deem this to be a very valuable resource. The underlying information is still relevant, and the book remains a good guide to thinking critically about advertising.

The liabilities of this book can be turned into assets. You can have students update the archaic references with current information. Students can also add in subsequent developments in advertising that the book failed to anticipate. For example, students could assess how online advertising has developed in the time since this book was printed. By undertaking these tasks, students will practice using multiple sources, and make text to self, and text to world connections.

The book engages active thinking about the information that it presents by encouraging the reader to engage in activities throughout  the text.

One such exercise is “Will Rodgers vs Winston Churchill”. The following quotes are presented.

“Advertising makes you want spend money you don’t have for something you don’t want.” 

Will Rodgers  

“Advertising nourishes the consuming power of men. It sets up… the goal of a better home, better clothing, better food… It spurs individual exertion and greater production.”  Winston Churchill

After presenting these quotes, the readers are asked questions about their personal experiences with advertisements and the feelings and reactions that they provoked. Then, they are led to consider which quote they agree with and why.

Metacognitive thinking processes are modeled throughout this book as part of its structure. Oftentimes, books that encourage critical thinking excel on encouraging students to assess the information that they are given, yet they neglect to teach their readers to analyze their own thinking process. This book excels on both counts.

There is also very good information on the historical background and context of  advertising.

Other notable subjects addressed in the book include…

Logo fashions            Cross promotional tie-ins      How & why ads are aimed at kids

Advertising in schools

Overall, the book gives a great break down of how you are targeted by ads, why you are targeted, and what techniques are used to persuade you.

Once again, the examples used in the book are dated, but on a fundamental level, the information is still very good. A student project to update this book would be a fine means for students to cross over into authorship. I would suggest chunking it into sections on the installment plan for either reading or project work.

By no means is this book perfect. It can get a little tedious at times, and the format gets a little chunky; however, it still compares favorably to other books that I have seen on the subject.    

What's Your Source?

What’s Your Source? Questioning the News   By Stergios Botzakis

Capstone Press   2009

Capstone Press! I must admit to previously ragging on their product on a wholesale level. I have seen this publisher market so much uninspired, pro-forma, pedestrian product under the guise of “being hip”, that I started calling the publisher “Wack Stone”

Those days are past. Though there is still no shortage of the pedestrian in their catalog, I am seeing some real standout titles. However, they remain the exception, rather than the rule.

This book is a very well done and accessible guide to critical thinking about news sources and stories that is written for students in the third grade and up.

It encourages the kids to ask questions along the following lines.

Who made this message and why?

Who is this message for?

How might others view the message differently?

What is left out of the message?

How does the message get and keep my attention?

Each of these questions gets a section of the book, and the reader is given background on each of these topics in order to provide insight and a means to analyze future new stories.

There is a surprising amount of information that is delivered in a sparse format 32 page book! Among the points covered are the following.

The news is funded by advertising dollars.

The need for eyeballs, ears, and clicks motivates what is covered, or not covered, in the news. The need for ratings shapes the content of the news.

How one’s values and beliefs shape how a story is interpreted, both in terms of how the consumer interprets the news, and in how the reporters and producers chose to cover events.

Stereotyping in the news

What can happen when the news runs with bad information, or gets caught up in a rush to judgement

Bias in the media

Threat inflation in order to grab viewers

Reliability of sources

Very, very highly recommended!

How To Fake a Moon Landing

 

How To Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial 

By Darryl Cunningham            Abrams Books       2013

Standout title! 

This is a guide to critical thinking and how science works in a graphic novel format.

Resources for critical thinking are always needed, and that need is readily apparent when you observe the gaps in critical thinking and lack of scientific understanding that so often pervades our discourse and public policy.

The chapter on science denial is especially strong in illuminating reasons why scientific evidence is ignored, obscured, or suppressed. The second part of this chapter explains how the process of science is self correcting – though this may entail a bit of delay in terms of time. The author explains how scientific evidence is subjected to review by other scientists, and that the initial findings must be repeatable, and be able to explain and predict the phenomenon under study.

The peer review process and how it vets conclusions is also explained in this chapter. The author includes the important caveat that one can intentionally game this process when submitting a paper; However, fudged data comes to light when others attempt to duplicate the findings. Another caveat that the author raises is that the peer review process can block new ideas until the underlying facts become more apparent. A classic example of this would be the case of Wegner’s continential drift theory. Though it was first proposed in 1912, it did not become accepted until the 1960’s.

Other chapters include…

The Moon Hoax

An excellent debunking of moon landing conspiracy theories. Through this debunking, the reader gains some insight as to how conspiracy theories work, and by extension, how to apply critical thinking tools to debunk them.

Homeopathic Remedies

Oftentimes, one invests in a belief or a process without knowing the underpinnings behind it. I feel that this is the case with many adherents of homeopathy. I feel that this chapter does an excellent job in providing this background in this treatment.

Chiropractic Medicine

I feel that this chapter is a bit over the top in its treatment and desire to debunk.

Nonetheless, the point of the book is to promote critical thought and a healthy skepticism in the reader, and that extends to the content of this book as well.

Rather than taking accepting conclusions on blind faith, if there is any doubt, it is your duty to check it out for yourself. I'm sure the author would agree.

MMR Vaccine and Autism Link

This chapter digs very deeply into Dr. Wakefield’s findings, conflicts of interest, and manipulation of data. Quite illuminating!

Evolution

A very strong case is made for evolution.

Fracking

A Well put together primer on the glossed over dangers and impacts of fracking.

Climate Change

Well done illustration of the concept, and of the reasons, reasoning, and methods of the deniers of climate change.

Enthusiastically recommended!

The Wolf Girls: An Unsolved Mystery From History

                             The Wolf Girls: An Unsolved Mystery From History  
         By Jane Yolen & Heidi Elisabat Yolen Stemple    Published in 2001   32 Pages


Out of print, but by all means secure a copy. They can typically be found at reasonable prices used.

This book is one of a series of four. The others treat the topics of the Salem Witch Trials, the lost colony of Roanoke, and the Mary Celeste. This particular book stands head and shoulders above the rest in the series, yet all share the same format.

These books are designed to encourage and exercise the critical thinking skills of kids. Our narrator is a young girl who likes to investigate historical mysteries. The book is formatted like an investigation. There is the text with illustrations, and then there are the girl's research notes superimposed over parts of the pages. Additionally, there are mock post it notes that detail the definitions that the girl had to "look up". Then reader is invited to put together the text and notes in order to form a theory about what really happened.

I think what separates this book from the others in the series is the amount of contradictory information that the reader must consider. I feel that this book demands a higher level of thinking than the others in
the series.

The mystery that this book treats is from India in 1920. A missionary took in two children at his orphanage. Allegedly they were raised by wolves. The missionary published an account, put one of the girls on display, and collected donations for the orphanage. The narrator's research notes inform the reader of conflicting accounts, background information, scientific knowledge, and quotes from the missionary's journal. With all of this information, the readers are amply equipped to form and support their own conclusions.

Four theories are considered at the end of the book, and readers are encouraged to form alternate interpretations. Each of the four theories is presented with a series of questions that the reader must answer from the evidence in order to support or critique that particular conclusion. This format also illustrates how one would go about supporting an alternative explanation.

In terms of using this book, one possibility is to make index cards that each contain a bit of information or evidence to consider. Then you can use four pieces of chart paper to represent each of the theories and have the students paste the cards under the theory that they think the evidence supports. Then you can have the students discuss what possibilities they believe and how the available evidence supports it.  

Ironically, there is a more recent (and far inferior) picture book on the topic of the wolf girls. It is titled "When I Met the Wolf Girls". This book is a actually a step backwards because its author did not do any critical thinking at all in scrutinizing the accounts of this case, and she took the missionary's claims at face value. It would be a good exercise to have students use what they have learned form the Yolen work to evaluate this later book.