Lesson Plan Guide: Internet Safety And Privacy

Objectives:

Students will become aware of personal data may be misused
Students will learn ways to protect personal data

Standards:

ASCA Acquire Personal Safety Skills
CCSS Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

Materials:

Either computers for students to use OR projector for teacher to share screen with class
Internet safety: Simple things you can do to protect yourself and information online

Resources:

Future of Cyber Security at Singularity University
Ways to Protect Privacy from Consumer Reports

Procedure:

1. Intro (5 minutes)

How does a smartphone learn about a person’s behavior?

Let us give 2 examples:

When Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are turned on and a social media website has access to the location of the phone, the location of the phone is not private.

A website for an online store places a cookie that tracks every other website and the location a person visits before making a purchase, and then makes specific recommendations on what to purchase when shopping and sends reminders in the car when passing the store.

Understanding how new technology uses data and how to protect personal privacy becomes more complex each year. A singular, all-knowing virtual grid of information was science fiction 50 years ago. Today, any app with a cookie on a phone or computer is using machine learning to track behavior to improve performance of software, advertisements and business. Every day, arrangements for the exchange of personal property are made and money is transacted online; new ways for robbery, piracy, and violations of privacy to occur.

2. Read Student Paths (10 minutes)

Internet safety: Simple things you can do to protect yourself and information online

Arrange students into groups of 5.

Teacher reads aloud the first paragraph aloud to the whole class. Then, says that the main point of the first paragraph is to teach the reader that every action online leaves a digital footprint; and asks: how am I leaving a digital footprint?

Next, students will take turns: 1) read one paragraph, 2) restate the main point, and 3) ask a question that helps the group connect to the text.

3. Consumer Reports (10 minutes)

Consumer Reports has a list of suggested tasks that a person can do to protect privacy and maintain security on the internet. If students have computers, they may read through the list and complete some of the tasks. The teacher can project the website to class and show videos, walk through a few tasks.

4. Debrief on Simple Ways to Increase Internet Privacy (5 minutes)

How can we be more private and keep our data more secure on the internet?

Turn off cookies, pop-ups, device locator, apps with camera, delete accounts

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