Digital Citizenship 5-Month Unit

This five-month Digital Citizenship unit, developed in collaboration with Certified BrainPOP Educator Kathleen Weil, features 10 BrainPOP topics (2 per month) from the Digital Citizenship collection:

1. Digital Etiquette
2. Social Media
3. Media Literacy
4. Internet Search
5. Online Safety
6. Online Sources
7. Information Privacy
8. Cyberbullying
9. Copyright
10. Plagiarism

Objectives

Students will:

• Identify digital tools and appropriate netiquette when using digital tools.
• Evaluate appropriate technology use and behavior.
• Understand the rights and responsibilities of a digital citizen.
• Participate respectfully and responsibly in an online community.
• Develop an understanding of the importance of practicing positive digital citizenship.

Preparation

Before introducing each topic, do the following:

• Preview the movie for adaptation to meet students’ needs.
• Assign the BrainPOP Quiz accompanying each topic prior to teaching that lesson.
• Review features you plan to assign for each lesson, such as Primary Source, games, Challenge, etc. Select and assign ones that best meet your students’ needs.
  IMPORTANT NOTE: To make assignments, you must log in with your individual teacher account. To submit their work, students must log in with their individual student accounts.

For some background, read the BrainPOP article What is Digital Citizenship? 

Teaching Plans (for each topic)

Introduce each Digital Citizenship topic by showing the BrainPOP movie to the whole class. During the movie, pause and discuss key points and define unfamiliar terms with the students.  Following the movie, have students log in to their individual account and complete the related quiz, which you assigned in advance.  When introducing a new feature or game, model how to use it. In addition to getting students familiar with BrainPOP features and tools, modeling helps you establish expectations for completing the activities. 

Following are suggested activities and accompanying resources and tools for each of the 10 Digital Citizenship topics: 

Digital Etiquette
Explore the do’s and don’ts of netiquette, and how to create respectful emails, IMs, and blogs.

• Matching & Think About It Worksheet. Display the Matching activity on a white board and complete it as a class. Pairs work together to complete the Think About It activity.
• Creative Coding. Code a game in which players sort online messages by whether or not they are clear and appropriate for their audience. 
• Time Zone X: Digital Etiquette. In this game, put events in chronological order.
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Social Media
Sharing is caring—especially when it comes to social media! Learn how to care about what you share.

• Identify It & Think About It Worksheet. Display the “Identify It” activity on a white board and complete it as a class. Students work in pairs to complete the Think About It activity.
• Make-a-Movie. Produce a BrainPOP-style public service announcement about using social media safely.
• Newsfeed Defenders Game. Players work at a fictional social media site where they are challenged to spot dubious posts, viral deception and false reporting.
• Lesson Plan.  Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Media Literacy
Arm yourself with the tools to become a smart and savvy media consumer!

• Primary Source Activity. Analyze historic photographs for their authenticity.
• Make-a-Movie. Produce a commercial for a concert sponsored by a fast food chain. Show how bias might impact the ad’s message.  
• After the Storm Game. As editor-in-chief of an online news magazine, players conduct interviews, edit stories, and manage social media.
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Internet Search
Learn how to search smarter.

• List the Steps and Narrow it Down Worksheet. Using notes from this activity, create signs with tips for effective Internet searches to display in the classroom.  
• Creative Coding. Code a game that challenges classmates to sort terms as effective or ineffective for generating relevant results.
• Challenge. Put your Internet search smarts to the test!
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Online Safety
Discover strategies for safely surfing the web. 

• Categorize It and Explain It Worksheet. Determine the safety of various online scenarios.
• Primary Source Activity. Analyze an original court document from a case involving a teenager who created a computer virus.
• Online Safety Rules Graphic Organizer. Students work in groups to create signs to hang in computer labs and classrooms to remind others of online safety rules.
• Creative Coding. Code a sorting game challenging players to identify what is and isn’t appropriate to post online.
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.
  

Online Sources
Evaluating online information is key to knowing what is dependable from what the dubious.

• Analyze It! Worksheet. Pairs work together to research the reliability of listed websites and provide their findings.
• Make-a-Movie. Produce a PSA warning of the signs of a biased or inaccurate website. 
• Make-a-Map. Make a concept map with a list of strategies to use to determine the reliability of an unfamiliar site.
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.  

Information Privacy
Spammers, hackers, identity thieves… oh my! Get the inside scoop on information privacy and cybersecurity.

• Read and Respond & Think About It Worksheet.  Display on a white board and discuss as a class how to respond to different information privacy issues. 
• Make-a-Map. Make a concept map identifying different ways scammers might try to gain access to information, and how to protect yourself.
• The Meaning of Beep: Information Privacy. In this game, use context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words. 
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Cyberbullying
Learn about good digital citizenship, and strategies for combating online bullies.

• Write About It. Read about cyberbullying situations and write about how to respond.  
• Primary Source Activity. Learn the story of a teen who was prompted by her own cyberbullying experience to help others.
• Make-a-Movie. Produce a PSA about cyberbullying and strategies to combat it safely. 
• Time Zone X: Cyberbullying. In this game, put events in chronological order.
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Copyright
Learn what a copyright is and how it might apply to everyday life.

• Related Reading. Assign different informational articles to pairs and have them share with each other what they learn.  
• Make-A-Map. Identify the types of work a copyright protects.
• Creative Coding. Code a sorting game challenging players to identify what does and doesn’t require a copyright.
• Challenge. Put your copyright smarts to the test!
• Lesson Plan. Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Plagiarism
Find out what plagiarism is and how to avoid it!

• Identify It Worksheet. After completing individually, pairs compare and contrast responses to determine the correct action to take and why.
• Primary Source Activity. Examine how an original piece of art was plagiarized and respond to accompanying questions. 
• Creative Coding. Code a meme about the perils of plagiarism. 
• Lesson Plan.  Review this standards-aligned lesson plan for more teaching ideas.

Explore more Digital Citizenship topics.

Culminating Activity
As a culminating activity, students select a Digital Citizen topic. Using  Make-a-Movie, they create their own BrainPOP-style movies that promote a positive message about digital citizenship to share with the class.