Libro

MEDIA LITERACY AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE
Strategies, Debates and Good Practices
We regard the possibility of discussing the answers in a familiar environment,
particularly with parents or siblings, so we consider that this is a factor to
overlook and it doesn´t remove the validity of the answers. On the contrary, we
consider, as Siva (2008), that it is necessary to make a work together with the
child, so that there is a partner in the construction of the meanings, assuming
parents a key role in conscious aid.
The school served as a privileged place of contact with a significant number of
children, in addition to allowing group them according to age and educational
level. It was a convenience choise, since we have close and easy contact with
the educational institution chosen.
Working with children requires, from the beginning, to take into account a set of
ethical principles that should necessarily be followed throughout the
investigation. Gerison Lansdwon (2001) suggests some of these rules in
research that involve children's participation:
- It is very important that children understand the objectives of the investigation.
These should be explained according to their maturity in order to express
appropriate views.
- Children`s opinion should be taken seriously by the investigator.
- Children should be involved in the project from the beginning.
- It is important that in a group, there are no exclusions, and that all children are
respected equally.
- It is necessary that the rules of the project are clarified and negotiated from the
beginning.
- The participation of children should always be voluntary, and they can give up
at any time of the investigation.
- The researcher who works with children should recognize their right to
participate as a human right.
At the first contact with the class, we carefully explain the research purpose,
showing that their participation was free. Earlier, we noticed that children, in
general, were curious about participate in the work, while put some questions to
the researcher. We explained in detail the proposed exercise, and especially
what was meant by each of the questions. In the end, all the students showed
desire and interest about participate in research.
5. Results and key findings
The results show us that children know the issues aired in the media, although
they showed little interest about watching the news. Age is identified as the
main reason for this apathy, by many of the children. Only one child mentioned
195