Teaching cyber safety is an important aspect of all technology teaching. With my Grade Two students, I try to discuss aspects of cyber safety while using the Internet on the interactive whiteboard (IWB) and I have found blogging to be an excellent avenue to teach young students about appropriate online behaviours.
All my students know not to publish their surnames or reveal other personal information about themselves including passwords. They also know that what they publish on the Internet is forever and can’t be taken back. My students are becoming aware of correct netiquette.
From the discussions I’ve had with my students who are 7 and 8 years old, it seems that they are only beginning to explore the Internet independently at home. I therefore feel that it would be a opportune time to teach my students more about cyber safety before they become involved in using technology such as social networking, instant messaging and mobile phones more broadly.
I have decided to use some of the fantstic online resources on the IWB with my students to teach some lessons specifically targetting cyber safety issues. I thought a good way to open these lessons would be to ask the students exactly what they do on the Internet and how much access to the Internet do they have.
Some sites that include videos, games, professional development, activities and lessons about cyber safety issues include
- Internet Safety with Professor Garfield
- I Keep Safe
- BrainPop Jnr
- Cybersmart (Australian site)
While it is important to provide education to the students about cyber safety it is also important to provide parent education and I will look at doing this through a parent newsletter. I may even have the students create or contribute to the newsletter as I find student participation usually encourages more parent interest.
This poster is from the Cybersmart website and has some good tips which could be taught to students and displayed in your classroom.
The poster is fantastic! I also use http://www.ikeepsafe.org with my students, they love Faux Paw the Techno cat and his videos that give tips for netiquette and staying safe online. My students also really enjoy learning with the Netsmartz (netsmartzkids.org) songs, videos, and games. With the amount of time our students spend online, these are important life long habits to start early.
I agree that it’s important to start teaching cybersafety at this age. The ACMA site has excellent resources. I did a technology audit with our year 5, 6 & 7 students to find out what technology they use and how they use it. There is an example of one for different age groups on the ACMA site.
To help share information resources on cybersafety I’ve gathered some useful sites here – http://sqworl.com/u7v6fo
@Pam, I loved checking out the info about what children are doing online on the ACMA site. Thanks for that link!
Your collection of cyber safety resources is excellent and will be very useful. Thanks! Look forward to sharing it with others.