“Students require an understanding of self as the basis for making healthy choices, having healthy interactions with others and using resources wisely, as well as for lifelong career development. They also require information, planning tools and processes to make decisions and develop action plans for effective life management.” Career and Life Management
This public awareness program, created in partnership between MediaSmarts and the Facebook Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, focuses on authentication of online information.
The Northwest Territories has a single curriculum for kindergarten that is based on play-based learning as outlined in the document NWT Right from the Start: Early Childhood Development Framework and Action Plan.
They are designed to accompany a full suite of Break the Fake resources including a workshop, tip sheets,
Strands in the Technological Education curriculum
The overall and specific expectations for each course in the technological education curriculum are typically organized in four distinct but related strands. The strands are Fundamentals; Skills; Technology, the Environment, and Society; and Professional Practice and Career Opportunities.
The Grade Nine and Ten curriculum document Technological Education includes information on how media literacy is relevant to the content of these courses:
The Ontario social sciences curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document: Social Sciences and Humanities (2013) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between the critical thinking approach of media education and social sciences:
Given their increasing use of the Internet to find information, now is also a good time to introduce strategies for determining authorship and authority of online information so they can recognize good health information, biased or hateful content, and online scams and hoaxes.
At this age media influences on gender norms and body image are becoming more intense. Children need to learn to apply key media literacy concepts to online spaces such as social networks.
Students in the junior grades lack sufficient critical thinking skills to surf the Web alone, but MediaSmarts’ Young Canadians in a Wireless World research shows that almost a third never or rarely use the Internet with an adult nearby. This is also an age where kids may be easily influenced by media images and personalities – especially those that appear "cool" or desirable.
Contrary to popular belief, cyberbullying remains a problem in high school. Students in these grades should learn the ways that they can speak out and make a difference, both in cases of individual cyberbullying and in building more tolerant and respectful online spaces.
Media Literacy Week is an annual national campaign to promote digital media literacy, with activities and events taking place in classrooms, libraries, museums and community groups from coast to coast to coast. Find out how you can get involved!