The Present Significance of Media Literacy and its Development : Focusing on the Science Education Development

Abstract

It is possible to say that the modern society has been developing in order to meet mass production, distribution and consumption of the "objects." It, therefore, goes without saying that the 3 R's (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) have been functioning as minimum essentials to upkeep this society. By the same logic, the society of today is now developing for the same activities but of the "concepts," such as a mass of information. In this sense, the above 3 R's could be interpreted as "input, output and processing" in the system of information processing devices. However, it is obviously impossible for people to cope with the current social change autonomously unless the perspective and significance of the new processes are sought of creatively. For example, if we do not initiate reform to the present social structure supported by mass production and consumption, it is obvious that we may mislead our spaceship "the Earth." Highly information-oriented society is considered an essential system to deal with this kind of issue, and this society will be supported by ability to cope with the above information processing with a critical viewpoint, that is, the media literacy. Since both developed and developing countries are on board the same spaceship, the development of the media literacy is a crucial educational issue of today in both kinds of countries. From the viewpoint of science education, in this paper we mainly took some class activities and then examined their role in developing countries in the development of media literacy from the view of critical literacy. In science education, verification in scientific process was highlighted as a mediator for the confrontation between school knowledge and everyday knowledge. Through the discussion, the process was also examined as an aid to develop the abilities to collect and select information and furthermore to facilitate the transformation of students' worldview.