Popular culture and schooling

This article (National Affairs, 2013), discusses the influence pop culture can have on a student's learning outcomes by engaging them more in school by merging integrating some home literacy to the school literacy

Pop culture can determine how an individual acts and perceives their surroundings and their world. There are many different types of pop culture and this can cause a major diversity in personalities within the classroom which I believe contributes to the terminology “diverse classroom environment” because even if the classroom has no cultural, racial or religious diversity, every individual pursues their own interests and beliefs independently.

Pop culture may affect schooling in several ways, for example, there are studies that hip hop and violent video games promote a student to be more aggressive outside the screen and also induce the notion of using drugs. If this is correct, then we can see the immediate connection of pop culture on the decline of school performance. Furthermore, certain minority groups experience a negative school environment due to bullying and also extradition from student groups. This may lead to out of school bullying and also students may tend to feel less inclined to attend school. These are all factors that educators should consider and look into when dealing with “problematic” students.

On a positive note, pop culture can be used to develop interest and stimulate intrinsic motivation, which leads to improved retention rates within students (Conti et al., 1995). This is very important when educators attempt to introduce a new method of teaching. Also, it is essential for teachers to recognise the different pop culture and choose the right way to integrating this into their lessons. For example, by integrating the subject with a song that common and applicable to a wide range of pop cultures will have a positive yield of retention rates.

In this online article, (Wing of Zock, 2013) a remix of song lyrics to the subject content proved to be a massive hit amongst students. This is a classic example because there are various university lecturers and tutors that use these videos to aid their students in remembering certain equations and concepts. This relates back to the first article and also Foot & Dowdy (2013) to prove that by teaching “out” of the textbook students can still achieve desired educational outcomes.

Anyway! The bottom line of the blog is for educators to recognise the wide variety of personalities within a classroom even though there may not be any racial or physical differences and how this may impact on a student’s behaviour. Furthermore, teachers should respect and endorse various healthy sub cultures and promote an inclusive and respectful classroom environment (which is not easy by any means). Also, healthy and effective learning are not only limited to worksheets and textbooks but can extend toward other forms of media or visual aids that a student can relate to as part of their pop culture.

Reference

1.      Conti, R, Amabile, T.M & Pollak, S 1995, ' The positive impact of creative activity: effects of creative task engagement and motivational focus on college students' learning, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 1107- 1116.

2.      Foot, R & Dowdy, J.K 2013, 'Coming to a classroom near you: Movie reviews for your content-area lesson plans', The Clearning House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, vol. 86, no. 5, pp. 179- 183, pp. 179- 183.

3.      National Affairs 2013, High-school classes go for pop culture, 16 September 2013, The Australian, viewed 23 October 2013, <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/high-school-classes-go-for-pop-culture/story-fn59nlz9-1226719602415#>.

4.      Wing of Zock, Using pop culture to promote free, open access medical education, 17 October 2013, AAMC, viewed 23 October 2013, <http://wingofzock.org/2013/10/17/using-pop-culture-to-promote-free-open-access-medical-education/>.