Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) is leading a research project involving seven other Spanish universities that is studying how media literacy is taught in the second and third cycles of primary education, among schoolchildren aged 8 to 11. The aim is to ascertain the level of media literacy among pupils, i.e., to find out to what extent they are able to access, analyse, evaluate and create content in various media in a critical, ethical and responsible manner.
Once the information has been obtained, the next step in the study will be to implement an educational intervention to improve the level, in a context where misinformation and digital content are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. To this end, the research will be carried out directly in schools, where the team will apply a proprietary tool designed specifically to measure the level of media literacy among students. “First, we will take an initial measurement, then we will carry out an educational intervention, and finally, we will return to the classroom to evaluate its real impact on the development of this skill,” explains Eva Herrero, professor in the Department of Communication at UC3M and principal researcher in the AMIKIDS-EP project.
In addition to this work with students, the study will include interviews with teachers to identify the real needs they encounter in the classroom. Meanwhile, the textbooks used at this stage of education will be analysed to see how publishers integrate work on this skill, which is explicitly included in the LOMLOE (Spain’s 2020 Organic Law amending the Organic Law on Education).
“We know from previous studies that when we start working on these skills in adolescence, it’s already too late. So it is essential to intervene at an early age,” Eva Herrero points out. “Children of the new generations will have to deal with increasingly sophisticated misinformation, and it is essential that teachers have access to real tools to address it in the classroom.”
The project (AMIKIDS-EP – Media Literacy in Primary Education. How to develop children’s critical skills to promote a safe digital environment) is part of the State Research Plan formed by a team of 20 researchers in the fields of communication and education, coordinated by UC3M and involving Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Universidad de Valladolid, Universidad de Huelva, Universidad San Pablo CEU, Universidad de Nebrija, Tecnocampus (Catalonia) and Universidad Europea de Madrid. It also has the support of RTVE, the Catalan Audiovisual Council, IC Medias, and the European Association for Digital Transition, entities that will be particularly involved in the results transfer phase and the design of resources for teachers.
