Political satire's effectiveness within the Classroom
According to Rebecca A Glazier, the writer of "Satire and Efficacy in the Political Science Classroom" from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, wrote about the impact political satire has on the minds of the younger generation when implemented within the classroom setting.
""Two of the most prominent satirical outlets today are Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. These television programs are of particular interest to political science instructors because they are so popular with young people."(TheTeacher) Studies also prove the popularity of these shows with the younger generation as well.
"Scholars have found modest gains in the political knowledge of people late-night comedy and other soft news sources" "Viewers of late-night satire are more informed about candidates and issue positions." (TheTeacher)
The author of "Satire and Efficacy in the Political Science Classroom" Rebecca A Glazier states three main strategies for using satire. The following points are those strategies:
"How valuable or risky is satire as a pedagogical tool in the potential science classroom?"
"One way to answer this question is to ascertain whether satire - used in diverse, regular, and critical manner, as described in this article - decreases political efficacy as expected."
"The general results across the classes in this study were consistent: levels of political efficacy were higher at the end of the semester than at the beginning. None of the classes experienced a negative change in political efficacy. The increase in efficacy was seen in both the satire and control conditions, which specifically indicates that using satire did not decrease student efficacy relative to either what it was before the class or the non satire environment.
The image below is the results from the study (The Teacher):
"Scholars have found modest gains in the political knowledge of people late-night comedy and other soft news sources" "Viewers of late-night satire are more informed about candidates and issue positions." (TheTeacher)
The author of "Satire and Efficacy in the Political Science Classroom" Rebecca A Glazier states three main strategies for using satire. The following points are those strategies:
- First, "Use satire regularly" "As with any teaching tool, it best to incorporate satire as part of the overall teaching plan with clear goals in mind."
- Second, "Use a diverse selection of satirical materials" "Although much of the scholarly research has focused on popular late-night satirical programs, there are many ways to use satire in the classroom."
- Third, "Encourage students to critically engage with satire" "An important difference exists between exposing students to satire and engaging them in critical evaluation of satire." "Satire can sometimes be difficult to understand, critically engaging with it requires students to use higher-level thinking skills, which may actually result in greater critical thinking."
"How valuable or risky is satire as a pedagogical tool in the potential science classroom?"
"One way to answer this question is to ascertain whether satire - used in diverse, regular, and critical manner, as described in this article - decreases political efficacy as expected."
"The general results across the classes in this study were consistent: levels of political efficacy were higher at the end of the semester than at the beginning. None of the classes experienced a negative change in political efficacy. The increase in efficacy was seen in both the satire and control conditions, which specifically indicates that using satire did not decrease student efficacy relative to either what it was before the class or the non satire environment.
The image below is the results from the study (The Teacher):
"Three questions regarding the use of satire in the class:
The image below is the results from these questions(TheTeacher):
- Whether the satire helped them to understand the concepts?
- Whether it made the class more enjoyable?
- Whether they would recommend it for the future iterations of the course?
The image below is the results from these questions(TheTeacher):
In Conclusion:
"The results of this study indicate that the potential risk of satire as a disillusioning damper on political efficacy is not found when the material is presented regularly, critically, and from multiple sources. The experiment reveals that using satire to teach introductory political science did not result in a decline in political efficacy. Indeed, in the case of in-person classes, efficacy levels were higher in the satire class than in the control class." (TheTeacher)
"Using diverse satire in a consistent and critical way - appears to have benefits." (TheTeacher)
"The results of this study indicate that the potential risk of satire as a disillusioning damper on political efficacy is not found when the material is presented regularly, critically, and from multiple sources. The experiment reveals that using satire to teach introductory political science did not result in a decline in political efficacy. Indeed, in the case of in-person classes, efficacy levels were higher in the satire class than in the control class." (TheTeacher)
"Using diverse satire in a consistent and critical way - appears to have benefits." (TheTeacher)