Critical Literacy and Social Studies teaching in elementary schools: “Teacher, plastic bags are not jellyfish”

Abstract

This research attempts to answer the question of how primary education students interpret texts about social problems, in order to become aware, make decisions and produce alternatives responsibly. The participant observation of the uses of the literacies of 286 sixth-graders (eleven to twelve years), in seven elementary schools of Barcelona and surroundings, focuses on the interpretation of different texts (videos, images, magazines, etcetera) on the controversial issue of marine pollution and ecologism. The data is analyzed from a critical and interpretative perspective, based on the triangulation of the results of a questionnaire and group interviews, and stress the importance of new literacies as a line of research in social science didactics. Therefore, the phenomenon of the critical capacity of boys and girls in the last year of primary school is explored to analyze texts in order to promote social actions, from the critical framework of new literacies.