Privacy Pursuit: What is Privacy?
In this lesson, students draw connections between their existing concepts of privacy and how it applies to the internet and networked devices, then learn essential vocabulary relating to privacy. They then consider some scenarios in which children encounter privacy risks and draw on those to develop a list of “dos” and “don’ts” for using networked devices.
Unpacking the Black Box: Explaining Algorithms and AI
In this lesson, students learn about algorithms and AI, how they work, how they impact our lives on the internet, and ethical considerations. The lesson begins with a class discussion on algorithms. Students will discuss how AIs reinforce real-world biases, the difficulties in identifying how AIs make decisions, what information algorithms use to make choices, and how that information impacts the types of decisions AIs make. Finally, students will demonstrate their knowledge by researching and designing an infographic on a field that uses algorithms to make decisions. This lesson aims to build critical thinking skills by examining how AI algorithms work, investigating the biases and impacts of AI decision-making, and reflecting on how the implications to their own lives.Internet Time Capsule
In this lesson, students learn about the concept of "time capsules" and then apply the idea by selecting time capsule contents to represent both the time they live in and their own lives and tastes. They then extend this idea to online content, making a "time capsule" of any online content connected to them. Younger students finish the lesson by creating a group Internet time capsule, while older students finish by considering what online content they might like to remove or keep out of their "time capsules."
Privacy Pirates: An Interactive Unit on Online Privacy
In the last year or two many writers and researchers have been trying to correct the common perception that young people do not care about privacy. While the public may finally be getting the message that teenagers do value their privacy -- as they define it -- the idea that younger children have any personal information worth protecting is still a new one. Certainly, most people would probably be surprised to learn how early children are starting to surf the Net: the average age at which children began to use the Internet dropped from age 10 in 2002 to age four in 2009 (Findahl, Olle, Preschoolers and the Internet, Presented at the EU-kids online conference, London, June 11, 2009); and, thanks to the iPhone and iPad, that number has probably dropped even lower.
A Guide for Trusted Adults
A Guide for Trusted Adults is based on YWCA's consultation with Canadian girls and young women about their concerns and the issues they face online and on social media platforms and the ways they want the adults in their lives to support them.