“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
In the Alberta Health and Life Skills K-9 Framework, media literacy is highlighted under the heading Program Rational and Philosophy in the section Responsible, Healthy Choices:
Many curricular expectations in B.C. Physical and Health Education courses relate to media and digital literacy. Media and digital literacy skills and concepts can be found in many of the Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies and specific course content.
Media components are included in the Northwest Territories Social Studies curriculum in the Managing Information and Ideas strand. The document Social Studies in the Northwest Territories – A Kindergarten to Grade 4 Overview includes the following among key social studies skills:
The Nova Scotia English language arts curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document Foundation for the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum: English Language Arts (2012) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between media literacy and English language arts:
“The use of information technology will help enable all students to solve problems, improve their personal performance, and gain the critical and abstract thinking skills necessary to become lifelong learners and contributing members of their communities” (Manitoba Education and Training, Technology As a Foundation Skill Area).
In this lesson, students look at the different ways in which we spend our free time and learn to find balance between active, learning and media activities. They begin by distinguishing between Active, Learning and Screen time, learn how activities can fall into more than one category; and reflect on their lives to see how well screen time is balanced by other types of activities. Finally, students consider how they might improve how their time is balanced.
Some of the most common ethical decisions youth face online revolve around intellectual property, but teaching kids to respect intellectual property can be particularly challenging because they may not see this as an ethical issue.
Toronto, ON, January 13, 2004—Helping Canadian parents protect their children from potential Internet risks is the focus of a new public awareness campaign called Be Web Aware, launched today by a coalition of leading corporate and non-profit organizations led by Media Awareness Network (MNet) and national partners Microsoft Canada and Bell Canada (a founding sponsor of MNet).
I have a post coming soon about New Year’s resolutions, but first I wanted to write a little about one of our own. This year, I’ve resolved to watch more films. (Yes, more!) It might sound a little strange at a time when many of us are struggling to convince our own children to put down their devices and consume less screen time, but there it is.