Do media images really affect what children grow up thinking about race, gender and class? Is there actually a relationship between playing violent video games and school shootings? Why is it important to have images of disability in children’s media? Does advertising create unhealthy eating practices in children? Do unrealistic media images cultivate unrealistic body images in adolescents? Can media be used to promote positive social change and civic engagement in young people? If you’ve ever wondered about these questions, the Seminar on Children and Media will help give the tools to answer them. This upper level course digs in deep, training you to critically evaluate studies you read, parse the summaries of sensationalized research about children and media that appears in the popular press, and introduces you to ways of investigating the images and effects of media on children. Several research-based practice and professionals who create media images and evaluate them come share their expertise with the class as resources. This course counts for the 21st century literacies concentrations in Child Study and Human Development, as an elective in Civic Studies and as an upper level course for the FMS major. It’s open to juniors, seniors and graduate students.