Background

Media literacy is an essential skill in today’s world – it enables us to be mindful of what we see in the media and to interact critically with the information we are presented with. Media literacy is also a tool for empowering citizens, raising their awareness and helping to counter the effects of disinformation campaigns and fake news spreading across digital media. 

Children must be taught to use all media – including digital media – in a safe and meaningful way, developing and applying critical thinking skills. As they grow in independence, how children use media outside of the family environment will depend upon how they have experienced media usage within it. 

Parents and Grandparents can be very powerful mediators between their children and the media, and yet many fail to communicate regularly and effectively with their children about media content. They need to be supported to do so. 

Media Education is more than ever, a family affair. 

Concepts and Approaches

Media literacy (ML) is use of fundamental literacy skills for: a) identification, analysis and evaluation of information in different formats and sources; b) as well for use of digital means for different purposes; c) nurturing critical mind with purpose to question, challenge and evaluate meaning of any information in any forms and use it accordingly (Media Literacy in the 21^st Century, European Political Strategy Centre)

Critical thinking (CT) is purposeful, reflective judgement which manifests itself in reasoned consideration of evidence, context, methods, standards and conceptualisation in deciding what to believe or what to do (The Delphi report, 1990).

Interrelations between those two: media literacy without critical thinking is just an empty concept. Critical mind gets a lot of food for critical thought from media.

Enquiry-based learning approach is the learning by investigating close environment and the world, connecting prior knowledge with the newly experienced, and making evidence based, reasoned conclusions. Enquiry based approach helps to develop scientific thinking and to understand how science works.

The “Apricot” project aims to:

• support adult educators who want and need to acquire the necessary skills to teach parents and grandparents media literacy, complementing existing school-based media literacy programs
• support parents and grandparents in their quest to contribute to a safe, meaningful and wise use of media tools by their children (and grandchildren)