Babel - Bringing Teachers Together

This webquest is designed as a follow-up to a persuausive essay on television violence. Students will use the evaluation criteria they have developed to select appropriate programming and advertising for a new network called Safe Kids Network (SKN).

You have read all of the research. You have written all of your notes. You have made many suggestions. Now put all of that hard work to good use. You have been hired as a network executive for a new network called the Safe Kids Network (SKN). You and your fellow executives have full creative control over everything and anything that will appear on this channel. Can you make SKN live up to its name?

Need to review the articles we read? Find the links here:

http://delicious.com/uniwizf/tv-violence

You are the network executives for SKN. For each task below, refer to the Ratings Guide you created with your persuasive essay. You must decide who will head each department:

The CREATIVE DIRECTOR(s) must come up with a new program idea suitable for each of the following age groups: Pre-school, Elementary School, and Middle School. The program content should target your intended audience in terms of characters, format, and language.

The RE-RUN DIRECTOR must evaluate existing programs on several networks and select one appropriate show for each age group listed above.

The ADVERTISING DIRECTOR must select appropriate advertising to appear on the network during each show. As stated above,the advertising should target the intended age group of the audience for each program by selecting products and creating the commercials to appeal to children in that age group.

Then, you will all have to appear before the network's board of directors and show them the programming line-up you have selected, justifying your choices. Convince them that these programs meet the guiidelines of your mission statement and live up to the expectations of a Safe Kids Network.

You must create a mission statement for your network detailing the values and criteria you will use to select your programming for this network.

What is a Mission Statement?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_statement

View some sample mission statements here:

http://www.missionstatements.com/

Each of you must select an age group (pre-school, elementary school, or middle school).

You must create a new program for the network targeting your assigned age group.

What are kids this age watching?

http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/tvviewersguide-preschool.html

Each program should be presented as a short digital story (4 scenes).

You must select an existing program for each age group (pre-school, elementary school, middle school). The programs you choose should meet the criteria for broadcasting on SKN as described in network's mission statement.

Here are some networks to choose from:

Cartoon Network

PBS Television

Disney Channel

Nick TV

You should prepare a short video clip for each program you select.

You must select one sponsor for each program in the line-up (6). Each sponsor should be appropriate for the age group of the children expected to view that program (2 pre-school, 2 elementary school, and 2 middle school).

What do psychologists and pediatricians recommend about children's advertising?

http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content3/ific/ific.ads.nutrition.html

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/118/6/2563

Select one (1) TOY to advertise for each age group. Use the "Shop by Age" link:

Toys R Us

Select one (1) FOOD or SNACK to advertise in each age group:

http://www.kidapprovedmeals.com/article-healthy-snacks-for-kids.htm

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/0208_hth_snacks.htm

Each advertisement should be presented as a single page ad with the product name, the primary image you will use for the commercial, and a slogan.

The board of directors will review your presentation (Mission Statement, Digital Stories, Video Clips, and Advertisements) and rate them according to the following criteria:

• Program Line-up contains programs that meet SKN standards
• Presentation contains all required materials
• Creativity & Artistic Quality

**Refer to the SKN Ratings Guide for safe television.

Television Network Executives make decisions every day about what programming and advertising to show on their networks. They make these decisions based on many factors.

You have developed a Network Line-up based on a single criteria....

Is this what kids should be watching on television?

Is this a Safe Kids Network?

Thank you for watching SKN - The Safe Kids Network!

Congratulations!