Aliens Encounter the Artifact called Television

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/Units/media/Aliens.html

Introduction

The year is 2020.Planet earth in no longer inhabited by humans. All that remains of American culture are TV's. You have just landed from planet Salyer. Your leader has given you the mission of researching American culture. Using the one cultural artifact that remains, TV"s, you will assess what this foreign world values. As a researcher for your planet you will gather data and make assessments about this ancient civilization.

The Task

You are no longer students. You have never seen TV's before. What will you tell your leader on your trip home?

You will work in groups, four aliens per group, to create twenty questions that can be asked about American, North American that is, civilization. Your only resource is TV. And as always they must be insightful and thought provoking questions. In other words, they cannot be yes or no questions.
Groups will exchange questionnaires and answer the questions from other groups.
A formal letter addressed to your leader about conclusions drawn from the artifact called TV.

Resources

Television

The Process

The group will divide TV viewing into catagories. Such as talk shows, sports, sit-coms, cartoons and news. Each alien should watch unfamiliear catagories for a clearer perspective. Each alien will watch TV for one hour a night for a week. Each alien must log what they watch. Keep in mind you are a researcher for your home planet and not a passive viewer! You are doing scientific research to postulate core questions about this foreign world. The assumption is that TV reflects what the culture appreciates. What are those values? What common themes are found? Your TV logs are your evidence to support and findings.
Week two, the groups work together and share their findings and develope questions formulated from their TV logs. An example could be, Did this culture have a belief that hair has magical powers? Evidence: Hair product commercials.
Week three the groups exchange questions and answer them using support from their TVlogs.
Each group also must write a cover letter to their leader stating their overall impressions about the culture studied.

Learning Advice

For this event to work the students must look at TV as something new to their lives. It is imperative that students wear the role of social scientist. The number one rule for social scientists is never overlook the smallest of details. When creating your log pretend you are making entries for someone who has never seen or heard of TV's. Every five minutes of TV viewing reflect on what was seen. Do not overlook the obvious visuals. An example is that the color red is used often in commercials. The more information you have in your log the better the questions you will create for your project.

Evaluation

Individual grades will be given for TV logs and a group grade for the questionnaire and letter. The groups will grade each other but the final assessment is made by your alien leader. Grades will be given in a holistic approach. The more insightful the thinking that reflects in the questions the better the grade. Also questions should be linked to data gathered in your TV logs.

Conclusion

This lesson promotes many critical thinking skills and prepares students to look critically at the world around them. Televisions ever present glow will only increase in time and students need to think critically about this presence in their lives. In no way is this lesson created to make students think TV is evil or heavenly. It is merely a tool that can be utilized or abused. Hopefully after doing this activity students will have a better understanding about TV instead of only TV having a good understanding of them.

Last updated April 28, 1996. Return to the Media and Behavior Page