From the category archives:

Framing Do’s and Don’ts

Framing Digital Media and 21st Century Learning

by Michael Baran November 8, 2012 Framer Reads the News

Two new surveys released last week provide promising evidence that digital technology in classrooms is playing a positive role in children’s skill development. As children learn to navigate new technologies, they become more active in their learning, more self-sufficient as researchers, and more engaged in what they are doing. Subsequently, their higher order thinking skills [...]

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Framing for the Velcro Memory

by Shannon Arvizu September 11, 2012 Framing Do's and Don'ts

Is human memory more like a filing cabinet or like Velcro? The answer to this question has significant implications for experts and advocates looking to shift the public conversation on social issues. The Heath brothers, in “Made to Stick,” state that the brain stores information more like hooks in Velcro than like empty file folders [...]

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SWAMPED! FrameWorks’ New Launchpad for Learning

by Roshan Ghimire July 2, 2012 Framing Do's and Don'ts

When you hear the word “gaming,” what do you think about? For many people, gaming evokes images of couch potatoes and gory violence; of time wasted and disapproving parents. But we’re moving toward a world in which people will hear “gaming” and think “learning.” In our research on Digital Media and Learning, we at FrameWorks [...]

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The Myth of Compassion Fatigue: Why Thematic Frames Are Essential

by Robert Shore February 13, 2012 Framer Reads the News

Brooke Gladstone recently wrote a blog post called “Combatting ‘Compassion Fatigue’ and Other Reporting Challenges.” In the post, Gladstone takes on the old problem that, in journalism, “one death is a tragedy,” and “a million deaths a statistic.” This is one of the oldest framing problems that there is — the choice between an episodic and a thematic [...]

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Framing Social Media for Learning – A Positive Example

by Michael Erard December 23, 2011 Framer Reads the News

Our research has shown that the media often publish stories about the perils of living in a digital world. However, we found a very encouraging example that indicates how to positively frame digital media use for students. In a recent article in the New York Times, a high school English teacher talks about the role [...]

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It’s Not a Fight When We Frame it Right: Toning Down the Fire

by Erika Rydberg July 19, 2011 Framing Do's and Don'ts

In our second installment on tone, we consider the role that the media plays in promoting the use of argumentative rhetoric on social issues. Deborah Tannen, author of the “The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s War of Words,” is a foremost expert on this issue. She is is a linguist, psychologist, and researcher and has looked extensively [...]

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A Reasonable Tone…and Why It’s Music to Our Ears

by Erika Rydberg July 7, 2011 Framing Do's and Don'ts

Composers know how to use tone for maximum effect. Watch this clip from composer Philip Glass’s “Koyaanisquatsi.” This piece uses different sounds and visuals to create tones that elicit an audience response. Tone is also a part of framing your message.  Tone influences the type of response you get from your audience. Often with social policy [...]

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A Practical Definition of “Campaigning”

by Susan Bales August 30, 2010 Framing Do's and Don'ts

I get asked a lot why FrameWorks refers to “campaigning” – isn’t that an electoral, politicky word? No better answer to that have I found than columnist E. J. Dionne’s “Can Obama Play Offense?”, Washington Post, August 30, 2010. From the article: “In a democracy, separating governing from ‘politicking’ is impossible.  ‘Politicking’ is nothing less [...]

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