Video game and cartoons used to shock school children about violence

April 11th, 2010, 12:21 Posted By: wraggster

A schools project is using Itchy and Scratchy cartoons to spark discussions around the theme TV violence. Photograph: Fox Broadcasting/PR

Primary school children are being shown images from the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto in a project designed to prevent them from becoming violent.

The 18-rated game, which allows players to kill prostitutes, has been criticised for glamorising crime and murder. But at eight schools in Merseyside, pupils aged between nine and 11 will be shown stills of scenes including a gun being fired through a car window and a man brandishing a sword, to stop them becoming "desensitised" to violent behaviour and teach them about its consequences in real life.

They will also view images from The Itchy & Scratchy Show, the violent cartoon that features in The Simpsons, as they are encouraged to contrast on-screen violence with what they see in in their own communities.

The children must categorise the pictures they are shown – which also include cards featuring images of knives and alcohol – as "good real life", "bad real life" and "not real". The idea is to hammer home the message that what they see on TV and in computer games is not real.

The scheme, which is funded by the Home Office and run by the Merseyside branch of the charity Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM) in conjunction with Merseyside police, will be expanded to Lancashire later this year.

Gaynor Bell, the chair of SAMM Merseyside, said showing the computer game images was important. "They're getting that much of it they're desensitised," she said.

"They think it's normal life. We're telling them this is not real, this does not go on and it should not go on." The response had been "fantastic" with children saying they were disgusted by the content of some video games.

The Get Real scheme has been piloted at Barlows primary school in Fazakerley, Liverpool, and will be rolled out to more schools shortly.

A teacher Paul Brooksbank told the Times Educational Supplement: "If implemented at these age groups across the country, it could have an outstanding impact. The fact it was peer-led allowed the children to talk through their thoughts and ideas when identifying the difference between what is good real-life and what is bad real life."

The headteacher, Jan Taylor, said: "The teachers who have been involved in the project have been blown away by it."

Children have an initial one one-hour session with a representative from SAMM and a police officer. Their teacher will run several more classes before the organisers come back to evaluate progress.

In Itchy & Scratchy, a parody of Tom and Jerry, the two characters engage over-the-top violence as they attempt to kill each other. Itchy, the mouse, is almost always the victor. "You see one of them get hit with a hatchet, and he floats up to heaven with the big wings and come back with a plaster on his head," Bell said. "It's about making the children realise this doesn't happen in real life."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...ools-education

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