Constructivist Media Decoding Activity Planning Guide

All Resources listed below are available from the PLS home page: www.projectlooksharp.org
See Media Decoding Examples from Project Look Sharp

Your Task: Plan a 5 to 10 minute CMD (Constructivist Media Decoding) activity for a specific context
including identifying your objectives, your media document(s), key questions, and a probe plan. You
may base this on existing PLS activities, documents, objectives and questions or create your own original
activity plan. Fill in the blue components below. An example CMD Activity Plan is included on page 4.

Submit this document to your Drop Box. Label file and subject heading <CMD Activity Plan, [First name]>.

1) Teaching Context
 Grade level: 10-11
 Subject area: Environmental Science
 Unit: Human Sustainability
 What might come before or after this activity: Students will be researching the economy’s role and
the government’s role in sustainability and an understanding of the role of advertising and
messaging about sustainability from either of these sources. They will also be working on crafting
a sustainability law as a class project and generating ideas
 Other relevant contextual information: Students may already be exploring how sustainability
approaches in the economy relate to those in our current laws, and the impacts of the government
and economy on societal and global sustainability.

2) Objectives - Identify 1 or 2 objectives for each area.

Content Objectives: (i.e. targeted subject area standards, knowledge, skills)
 ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions When evaluating solutions it is important to take into account a range of
constraints including cost, safety, reliability and aesthetics and to consider social, cultural and environmental impacts.
 ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports
them requires responsible management of natural resources.
Literacy/Critical Thinking Objectives: (i.e. CCSS for literacy, media literacy)
 From this media, students will be analyzing the use of language and images in sustainability
messaging of advertising and consider the effectiveness of these messages in creating societal
sustainable changes.

3) Documents - Briefly describe the specific document or documents you will have the students
decode. Give a link to the document(s) or otherwise embed in this plan if possible.
Document(s) description and link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=217&v=f7MskKkn2Jg
H&M World Recycle Week ft. MIA: advertisement by H&M clothing company about recycling
clothing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utSYAkQi5hY
The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan: video by CEO addressing company’s commitment to global
sustainability
4) Key Questions - list up to 4 key questions that will be the focus of the brief CMD activity in
the order you intend to ask them. You may be asking follow-up probe questions (e.g. “What is your
evidence from the document?”) between each of the key questions.

Key Questions:
 Who do you think is the intended audience of these videos? What messages are they telling their
audience?
 What are the images, music and language in the videos? What does it convey about sustainability?
 What impacts do you think these advertisements may have on the companies versus the impacts it
may have on global sustainability?
 Do you think advertising is an effective approach to making a sustainable society?

4) Probe Plan
 Probe Plan (1/2 to 1-page narrative): I might ask the class for any advertisements they’ve come
across recently about sustainability, and have them share what product or company was
advertised and what the ad was about. Then, students will have an initial conversation in pairs on
the key question “do you think advertising is an effective approach to making a sustainable
society?” Next, we will watch the H&M video and discuss for the audience, message,
images/music/language used. We will do the same thing for the Unilever video. I may ask follow-
up questions like “why do you think the company made this advertisement?” “what is this
company’s main product or original mission?” “does it try to bring out any emotions?” In relation
to the key question about the impacts these advertisements have, I might ask “does the
advertisement give us enough information about their commitment to sustainability?” or “what do
you think the average audience member will think or do after seeing this video?” I will probe for
their thoughts about the role of the free market on resource management, the ethics of
advertisement and how “money talks”, and decision-making and choice in a world of
advertisements. I will also look for personal experiences and examples about how advertising
impacts their own lives and decision-making. I may also ask their opinions comparing the two
videos and which seem most effective in making changes to sustainability and ask for their
reasoning. When students have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the messaging and
possible impacts of the advertisements, we will go back to the key question, “do you think
advertising is an effective approach to making a sustainable society?” If students tend to think it is
effective, I will probe about how those with money have the most say in the free market economy
and the effectiveness on choice versus law in sustainable decision-making. If students tend to
think it isn’t effective, I will probe for the pervasiveness and accessibility of advertising, emotional
appeal and the flexibility of massive scale change in the free market. Overall, I want students to
consider the influence of society, culture, and the economy on sustainability decision-making.