For parents, this time of year can feel like walking through a minefield, with ads, decorations and music all aimed at getting kids excited about Christmas. Every year children eagerly ask Santa for the “hottest,” “must-have” toys – and then turn that “pester power” on their parents.
Strands in the Technological Education curriculum
The overall and specific expectations for each course in the technological education curriculum are typically organized in three distinct but related strands. The strands are Fundamentals; Skills; Technology, the Environment, and Society; and Professional Practice and Career Opportunities.
The Grade Eleven and Twelve curriculum document Technological Educationincludes 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:
The Newfoundland language arts curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document English Language Arts Grade 9 Overview (2012) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between digital and media literacy and English language arts:
February 10th is Safer Internet Day, an event sponsored by Insafe to promote safe and responsible online behaviour. As the Internet becomes a more and more central part of our lives, we are coming to a better understanding of just what risks and opportunities it provides. We are learning, for instance, that youth are less likely to be victimized by adult strangers than by other youth, whether it is in the form of sexual solicitation or online harassment: a recent study by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, prepared for the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking of State Attorneys General of the United States, supports other recent research in finding that it is the particular behaviours that some youth consciously engage in that place them at risk -- and that not all youth are equally at risk.
Outcome Chart - Newfoundland and Labrador - Canadian Law 2104/2204
This is the first lesson in the Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum series, though it can also be delivered independently. In it, students learn the difference between facts and opinions, and distinguish between opinions that are entirely subjective and ones that can be supported by facts. They then learn how to construct and evaluate arguments.
This step may sometimes be the last one you do, but it could also be the first. The News tab is better than the main Google search for this step because it only shows real news sources. While not every source that’s included is perfectly reliable, they are all news outlets that really exist.
In the 19th century, Métis leader Louis Riel reportedly predicted: “My people will sleep for one hundred years. When they awaken, it will be the artists who give them back their spirit.” Most Indigenous groups in Canada have relied on the oral tradition to convey an idea, message or value.
With younger children, the best approach is to have a clear and consistent set of rules, both at home and at school, about sharing other people’s content.