Date of Award
3-1991
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Education: M.S.
Department
Teacher Development
College
School of Education
First Advisor
Bruce Romanish
Second Advisor
Eugene Bjorklun
Keywords and Subject Headings
Students who read newspapers have a greater knowledge
Abstract
PROBLEM:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between newspaper reading and knowledge of global issues among high school students. Teachers report that students who are exposed to newspapers in the classroom improve in several scholastic areas as a result of that exposure. Global studies is becoming an educational priority, but little is known as to what the current level of student knowledge of global issues is, or how students acquire that knowledge. Can students acquire knowledge of global issues by reading newspapers outside the classroom? It was hypothesized that students who read newspapers would know more about global issues than those who do not read newspapers.
PROCEDURE:
Twenty-four ninth grade and 23 eleventh grade students at Albany High School were given a two-part survey. The first part of the survey asked the students to report on their newspaper reading habits. Students were to respond to questions about how often they read newspapers, what sections of the newspaper they read, and why they did so.
The second part of the survey quizzed students on their knowledge of global issues. The 16 questions that made up the quiz all dealt with the concept of global interdependence. This concept was emphasized because knowledge of it requires an understanding that goes beyond the trivial and superficial.
The two sections of the survey were then compared and analyzed in an effort to determine if a correlation existed between the frequency of newspaper reading and the results of the global issues quiz.
RESULTS:
Of the students surveyed, most said they did not read a newspaper as often as five times a week. When the students read the newspaper, they most frequently read the comic section and the sports pages. By contrast, the international news section of the paper was one of the least frequently read sections of the paper.
In general the students did not do very well on the quiz of global issues. Because one question was an opinion question, and another was one that did not allow for a correct answer, there were only 14 questions the students were scored on. The scores of the students ranged from 2 to 11, with 7 the most frequent score. Those students who reported they read a newspaper 5-7 days a week had a mean score of 9.4 on the test of global issues. Those who read a newspaper 1-4 days a week had a mean score of 7.2, while those who said they seldom or never read a newspaper had a mean score of 6.3.
Although a pattern emerged when comparing the frequency of newspaper reading with mean test scores, it was not statistically significant according to the chi-square test.
Recommended Citation
Meyer, Maurice S., "The Influence of Newspapers on Students' Knowledge of Global Issues" (1991). Culminating Projects in Teacher Development. 74.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/ed_etds/74
