To help schools, youth groups, police services, libraries, and wider run fun and engaging activities for Safer Internet Day we have created a range of resources for those working with children and young people, including tailored resources for those working with 7-11 year olds.
In this blog we take a closer look at some of these resources.
What age group is this resource designed for?
These resources have been tailor-made for educators and other professionals to deliver with young people aged 7-11 years old. The resources consist of a lesson with accompanying slides, an activity menu of shorter activities, and an assembly.
Why is the topic of online reliability important for this age group?
Understanding reliability online and recognising what you can and cannot trust is important for everyone, regardless of their age, to enjoy the internet safely and positively. However, for 7-11 year olds, the desire to use technology rapidly starts to increase during this stage. Not only do primary aged children need to understand that content can be true, untrue, a belief or an opinion, they are also likely to begin experiencing online advertising, and content that has been edited – e.g. shared by influencers that they follow. Children of this age are still learning so much about themselves and the world around them. It is critical that the information they receive is trustworthy, appropriate, and safe for their development and well-being.
What are the key learning objectives for this resource?
The resources aim to help 7-11 year olds navigate their online lives more confidently, happily and safely by recognising what is and isn’t trustworthy on the internet.
Learners engaging with these resources will consider what reliability, motive and trust means online. They will learn to recognise situations where content may be unreliable, or intended to persuade or influence – e.g. adverts, sponsored content, news, pictures, links and more. Most importantly, these resources will equip learners with a range of techniques to assess reliability and give them a clear sense of when, and how, to get help should they need it.
How can teachers and educators use it?
All the educational materials created for Safer Internet Day 2021 have been designed to be easy to use and adaptable to a range of audiences, settings and needs. For this pack, educators could begin by using the assembly to introduce this year’s theme, to give an initial insight into the different types of online content which might be unreliable.
Educators then have the option to use the lesson and accompanying resources, and to further extend the learning with a variety of additional short activities that could be explored over the course of a week, or revisited at a later date.
What key activity do you want to highlight?
‘Trust it or check it?’ is an adaptable, interactive game included in the assembly slides.
Educators are given a variety of examples of unreliable online content, from which they can pick the most relevant to share with learners. Learners are then given an opportunity to examine the content and assess whether they should ‘trust it’ or ‘check it.’ This activity also invites learners to reflect on how seeing unreliable content might make them feel and finishes with simple, practical advice that learners can use moving forward.
