Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Level: Secondary Cycle Two
Lesson Length: 1-1.5 hours, plus time for assessment/evaluation activity
Subject Area: English Language Arts, Visual Arts, Ethics and Religious Culture
Lesson Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/reality-check-we-are-all-broadcasters
In the Ontario Grade 11 Health for Life curriculum, media literacy outcomes are included under the broader categories Determinants of Health and Community Health.
On the left you will find the outcome chart containing media-related learning expectations from the Health for Life curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site. Teachers should also note that individual lessons often satisfy a number of expectations.
Phones and other media are a big part of kids’ lives, and they can be a healthy part too. Here are some ways that you can make sure your kids get the best possible start when using media and digital devices.
October 24, 2001 (Ottawa) - Canadian children and youth are putting themselves at risk as they explore the Internet with little or no supervision, according to research findings released today by the Media Awareness Network (MNet). The findings focus on areas of risk such as children and youth exploring private and adult-only chat rooms, meeting Internet acquaintances in person, being exposed to sexually explicit and hateful material and sharing personal information.
MediaSmarts, Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy, has today launched an extensive new program to support teachers in integrating digital literacy into their classrooms. Use, Understand & Create: A Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools (K-8) is a cross-curricular program that provides teachers with an array of tools to give students the skills they need for the digital age.
In this lesson, students learn how their personal information is key to how most of the “free” apps and platforms they use make money. They learn practical strategies and tools for managing their privacy and plan how these can be used to limit what audiences have access to their personal information.
This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Manitoba, Grade 1 Physical Education/Health Education curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.
Quebec Competencies Chart - Cyberbullying and Civic Participation
Quebec Competencies Chart - Promoting Ethical Behaviour Online: Our Values and Ethics
This lesson introduces students to the ways in which commercial apps and websites collect personal information from kids and to the issues surrounding children and privacy on the Internet. Students begin by considering how comfortable they would be with people knowing various things about them, and then watch and discuss a video which explains how targeted advertising works. They then explore the idea of targeted advertising through a class exercise in which Prince Charming tries to target Cinderella with an ad for glass slippers, and then analyze how their own personal information might be used to target them with ads. In the second part of the lesson, students are introduced to privacy policies and how they are rated by the website Terms of Service, Didn’t Read. They read and analyze the site’s rating for a popular app and then learn ways to limit data collection. In an extension activity, students are introduced to the idea of “dark patterns” and imagine how the Wicked Queen might use them to convince Snow White to accept “poison” cookies.