Have you ever come to think about how important school teachers are? Especially those of the mathematics and science departments. Many people throughout the United States do not realize what our nation is coming to due to the lack of science and math educators. Thanks to bold well known educators in the United States we’re determined to find a solution to the problem of our future. Connect a Million Minds is a philanthropic commitment of $100 million cash and in-kind donations to inspire students in pursuing opportunities and careers in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields.
This advertisement of Connect a Million Minds has a bold, strong, straight forward look on the problem. First thing your eye is drawn to is the title, MATH, SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION. At first you can think maybe they might be talking about math, science, and the future of our nation, or that math and science is the future of our nation. The letters being in bold and the contrast of white and black font gets you wanting to know more to what they might be talking about. As to the tag line of ‘A Global Online Town Hall’ lets the readers know how important this is by them using the word ‘Global’, but then gets you wondering what is the meaning of online town hall.
Next thing your eye is drawn to is the TV like screen on the bottom of the advertisement. Between the bold title and the TV screen attacks the reader to in wanting to know more. The screen lets you know that Former Vice President Al Gore is a guest speaker, along with Sally Ride and Dean Kamen. Something that catches your attention is the picture of a blacked out person with a yellow background and the word you in the middle of the person. It has you thinking what about us is the advertisement trying to include. With more description of the program, the ad including the reader helps us as the readers feel like we have a part in the future and further more of the bigger picture of math and science. Other than the people included in the screen, what does the screen represent? Are we going to be able to see it on TV? Are we going to be able to win a TV? Or is it just a way to draw someone in?
The more you begin to read the advertisement you notice a timeline bar at the very top of the advertisement. The date and time is not of the current date or time, and the countdown if the reader does the math is to the exact time and date in comparison to the date and time that is given at the top left hand corner. It makes you think what is so important about this date. What significance does this date and time have? Is it bad or a good countdown? With the countdown being in white with a black background and all the same font size, it makes it very hard to miss. This also gets your attention on wanting to know more about this specific date and time to the bigger topic.
After all the attention grabbers from the advertisement, the reader can then read the middle of the advertisement where it gives you a clear explanation to the ad and its purpose. The only thing the reader can question about the explanation might be why the selected people such as former Vice President Al Gore, inventor Dean Kamen, and astronaut Sally Ride were chosen to be the few of many people allowed to guest speak at this event or if they are the only guest speakers at the event. What will these selected individuals have to say about math, science and the future of our nation? The description has you thinking whether or not Al Gore, Dean Kamen, and Sally Ride ran into the same problems with attitudes towards math and science, or just believe in the importance exploring and or the solution. Something else if you read the description paragraph more than once is not once does it tell you where or on what channel this presentation is going to take place. It tells you what time and who will be guest speaking but the reader is not informed on how they will be able to see it. Another thing that would greatly help the organization is somewhere on the advertisement let the reader know that they do accept donations. If you go onto their website they let you know about a thing called “pledge”, where you can pledge that you will have to help so many students in a certain amount of time that you are capable of, then you make a donation. This organization is indeed out there to help and let everybody feel like they have a part in fixing the problem, but through this advertisement there is no way of knowing that.
The advertisement is pretty much self-explanatory on what they are trying to get across. The color contrast of black and yellow is a big help to attract the readers. One last thing that could help the advertisement a little bit more is to have a link that the reader can click on via internet, that way it will be easier to get more information of the problem the program is trying to fix, the program itself, the ‘pledge’ and of course more information on the whole presentation the advertisement was made for. Based on the advertisement that is given it has clear credibility on its purpose, which is to inform the nation of the importance of mathematics and science and the attitude that is set towards them both, and with the emotion that is set across due to the way the ad is addressed to people nation-wide and also with the right to have a say in on the problem makes each and every one of the readers feel important.
What is so important about the attitude towards math and science education? What is its significance? Is it something that everyone should know about? What is the real problem? Many questions that are usually asked due to the problems with education are rarely answered or if they are answered are not valid. Thanks to Connect a Million Minds the questions that are always asked are ready to be answered from many points of views including our own in order to be connected to make one valid answer. With this valid answer and the donations made thru Connect a Million Minds we can find a great solution to what the main problem may come out to be.
References
· Time Warner/Connect A Million Minds. (2009). Town Hall. Connect A Million Minds Website. Retrieved from www.connectamillionminds.com
