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by J. Richard Stevens and Deserai Anderson Crow
Applied Environmental Education & Communication
Volume 15, Issue 1, 2016
Abstract: This article examines the difficulty in teaching contemporary students of journalism (those in the much-discussed Millennial Generation) to report on complex topics like science and the environment. After examining contemporary literature, the authors subjected 120 undergraduate students to a strategy that combined visual representations of abstract concepts, media texts, and experiential peer interactions. The results indicate positive outcomes on comprehension and demonstrations of critical analysis from this pedagogical approach.
Teaching environmental reporting continues to be a daunting undertaking. Compared to other coverage areas of news media, the issues, sources, politics, and even ideological understandings present more challenges to reduce down into journalistic news frames. In fact, just understanding the issues involved can be daunting, as one journalist noted:
When it comes to systematically covering “the environmental story,” anyone who moves beyond the most simplistic approach sees immediately the extraordinary complexity involved even in mapping the territory, let alone understanding trends, issues, conflicting evidence, the role of information sources, and other aspects of the story. (Dennis, 1991, p. 61)
This article examines the difficulty in teaching contemporary students of journalism (those in the much-discussed Millennial Generation) to report on complex topics like science and the environment. The Millennial Generation consists of those born after 1980 and graduating high school following the year 2000 (Howe & Strauss, 2000). This group represents 30% of the American population and is the most diverse American generation with 34% of their ranks classified as minorities (McGlynn, 2005).
By examining contemporary science education literature, consulting the literature about the special challenges of educating Millennials, and drawing upon the classroom experience of the researchers, this work proposes a model for motivating contemporary journalism students and helping them develop deeper understandings of the issues involved in more complex topics of news media coverage. Read more …
