Describe the Newspapers, Newsletters and Magazines as a material used in teaching Religious Education

These materials have useful information on social issues affecting the immediate society and the world at large and could therefore be used in teaching of R.E
They are importance because of the following:
1) They offer valuable and up-to –date information. This is especially the case with newspapers and the weekly/monthly magazines. The recency of the information makes teaching more real and applicable to the student’s environment.
2) They are available in the open market in a wide variety hence one can get a better
balanced view on religious issues discussed in various sources
3) Occasionally ,they offer very detailed information otherwise not available in ordinary
textbooks, e.g. during HIV/AIDS day, newspapers may outline achievements made in
the fight against the virus
4) They are flexible in their use e.g. magazines and newspapers can be cut into relevant
pieces to illustrate on how to convey a message or they can be used whole on a wide
range of topics related to sexually transmitted diseases
5) They facilitate in the development of
i) Reporting information accurately and systematically
ii) Comparing information from different sources to arrive at a reasonable conclusion
iii) Identify some concepts commonly associated with religion
6) Newspapers and reviews can provide a room for open criticisms and suggestions on local
issues associated with immorality e.g. prostitution, use of condoms, child abuse, drug
abuse, cultural practices, pregnancy and HIV and AIDS
7) Wider coverage of issues

How to use the materials in R.E Teaching and Learning
Effective use for these materials requires the teacher to do following:
i) Identify a theme on which to focus reading. The communicator should consider
whether:
a) The theme can be clearly stated to suit the audiences level
b) The audience will have problems with parts of it;
c) It will fulfill the purpose for which it is intended
ii) Survey the available reading first to evaluate their suitability on criteria of:
a) Relevance and accuracy of information and relatedness to the topic of study
b) Appropriateness to the audience reading level in terms of vocabulary ,sentence
structure and level of abstraction in terms of reasoning power on issues that is
controversial
c) Background materials where it will be determined whether additional information will
be needed to subsidize or support the topic being read
iii) Prepare a series of focused questions to unable audience to know exactly what they
are required to extract from the readings
iv) Evaluate audiences answers to determine which areas need further attention
v) Display on the bulletin board some newspaper cuttings showing current information
on HIV and AIDS /sexual abuse, drug abuse etc . these could be mounted by a book
or filed for future reference

Limitations of newspapers and related materials
Collateral materials are limited in a number of ways:
1) Lack of objectivity: most of the information obtained from the newspaper ,reviews and
magazines on controversial matters is influenced by personal or group interests. They
can give wrong information to students if they rely so much on them
2) They are not durable because they can easily be destroyed if not handled well
3) Magazine and newspaper give emphasis to immediate news.
4) Some collateral materials e.g. journals do not report daily events and so they are not up-
to-date.
5) Some collateral materials e.g. journals, magazines are expensive and this calls for limited
leadership

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Titany answered the question on November 2, 2021 at 07:28