Introducing media literacy at school: new devices, new contents at the curriculum. A case study

There is no doubt that the world is becoming increasingly connected. As a result, the different ways in which people communicate have developed a new way of thinking, a new way of creating and sharing awareness. In this context of changes and challenges we must all participate in teaching our offspring, giving them not only the tools but also even the skills to properly face their future. This essay will deal with the aspects of a new emerging society where the amount of information increases daily and it becomes necessary to know how to manage it. It should be noted that many children have easy and constant access to media on a daily basis, surfing the Internet without any formal instruction about it. It is important to emphasize that finding, evaluating and using information will be crucial for our children's future. The key aspect of this paper is how to empower children in their daily Internet browsing by introducing media literacy at school. Therefore this paper will present as well an on-going project "Conectados" which introduces media literacy in the classroom using one specific tool: the iPad. With this new device the project tries to enhance the instruction of children between 7-8 years of age, who are in fact daily users in the Internet. The project was developed in two main steps: the first one to analyze and evaluate the real needs in media literacy skills; the second one to develop new materials about media literacy. These materials have been used in the classroom and this paper will show the results.