Using Advertisements to Teach

I believe in the value of using advertisements to teach. Firstly because of the proliferation of the mass media. Our students are constantly using the Internet, watching the TV, listening to radio, and advertisements exist even at the bus-stops and MRT and other forms of public transport. Hence, using advertisements can serve to bring in the real-world context to the students and help students to see the relevance of science to their daily life. The use of the more popular advertisements has the benefit of being more memorable and better remembered due to the jingles or whatever, thanks to the effort of the publicity company. This enables the teacher to leverage on the success and bridge the gap between science and the students.

By using the advertisements, the teacher can structure the lesson such that the information presented in the advertisement be investigated. This help students to become more questioning and critical about what they see and receive from the media. This addresses one of the goals of the science curriculum, which is to help students become more discerning consumers.