How to teach internet safety in primary schools

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Jacqui is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and author of two technology training books for middle school. She wrote Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a Cisco blogger, a columnist for Examiner.com, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller for her agent that should be out this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office, WordDreams, or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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The Internet is a wonderful student resource for researching school reports, communicating with teachers, staying in touch with friends, and entertaining themselves. They can literally hit a few keystrokes and find out about culture in China, the history of Europe, or take a tour of the American White House.

But with that access comes risks, even if you’re careful. For example, in our year 3 class project on life cycles, we never allow the students to search “chicks”, rather they must type “baby chickens” to avoid problems.

The digital natives we are educating don’t want to hide from the internet, though. They want to learn to manage it. What we as teachers must do is show them how to avoid the internet’s bad neighbourhoods so they can benefit from the good. Here’s my year-by-year run-down on how to prepare students to thrive in the online world:

Reception

I mix the following internet safety lessons with other projects during my 45-minutes-per-week lesson. I spread them out throughout the year, repeating if necessary, which doesn’t bother the children at all.

The first time students access the internet, I provide an overview. What is the internet? Where does it go? What will they see once they’ve clicked a link? How should they safely use a link? How do they NOT click on the ads (and what are ‘ads’)?
We visit age-appropriate videos that teach online safety

I have sufficient adult assistance that learning is seamless and students aren’t confused

Year 2

I mix the following lessons in with other projects throughout the year. I reinforce the topic of ‘internet’ at least monthly so students realise its importance.

Remind students of the lessons learned about the internet safety in reception - what is the internet? Where does it go? What will they see when they click a link? How should they safely use a link? How do they NOT click on the ads (and what are ‘ads’)?

Year 3

For 15-30 minutes of one lesson: Discuss image copyright as students search for online pictures in conjunction with a class report - what does this term mean? Why is it important? How can they identify a copyrighted image? Here are several websites with copyright-free images:

For one lesson during the year: Discuss online presence as students create an online story in Storybird or Blabberize.
Reinforce cybersafety and online security by creating an avatar using one of these free web-based avatar creators:

Research a project that goes to specific websites as a method of teaching safe search methods
During sponge or free time before/after a project: Visit these online websites:

Year 4 - this is a four-week unit

Create avatars as you discuss internet safetywith students. Use:
Discuss online netiquette
Discuss copyrights
Discuss plagiarism
Websites to visit throughout the term, during free time before/after projects:

Year 5 - this is a five-week unit

Create avatars while discussing internet safety
Discuss safe research methods (and how that equates to internet safety)
Discuss netiquette, good online manners
Discuss copyrights
Discuss plagiarism
Websites we visit (given time)

Year 6 - this is a seven-week unit

Discuss digital citizenship - what does that mean? Why is it important? What are the responsibilities of being a ‘digital citizen’?
Discuss copyrights
Discuss plagiarism and the importance of giving credit to the creator of text and images
Discuss fair use
Discuss public domain
Discuss ‘digital footprint’ - what does that mean?
Discuss netiquette, good online manners
Discuss safe online presence (no last names, etc.)
Discuss safe research methods (and how that equates to internet safety)
Use the Webquest on Hoax or Not
Explore Is This Picture Real?