Lesson: Protecting Your Privacy
In this lesson, students review what the word “privacy” means in an online context and learn key privacy-related vocabulary. They explore different privacy risks and then learn practical techniques and strategies to manage and protect their privacy. Students then demonstrate their understanding of these strategies by illustrating them. Finally, students revisit material from earlier in the lesson and consider how their actions might put other people’s privacy at risk.
This lesson plan was developed by MediaSmarts for the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, to be used with the IPC’s Privacy Pursuit! activity booklet.
Grade range: 4-6
Teacher Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discoveringstudent/chapter/privacy-scavenger-hunt/
Student Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/discovering/chapter/privacy-pursuit/
Time Frame
| One class period (45-60 minutes) | Two or three class periods (90-120 minutes) | ||
| Activities |
Privacy Scavenger Hunt What is Privacy? What are Privacy Risks?
|
Privacy Scavenger Hunt What is Privacy? What are Privacy Risks? Protecting Your Privacy
|
Preparation:
Make sure that students are able to access the interactive activities.
A printable version of this lesson is available at https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/privacy-pursuit-protecting-your-privacy
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Digital media are netowrked
- Devices that are connected to the internet send information to each other
Digital media are shareable and persistent
- Once you post something it can stay online or be shared with others forever and can be copied, altered, and used in ways you don’t like
Digital media have unanticipated audiences
- Things that you do with devices connected to the internet may be seen by people you don’t know about
Interactions through digital media can have a real impact
- Our actions and decisions online can affect our and others’ privacy
Key questions:
- What privacy risks do we face online?
- How do our choices about privacy affect other people?
- How can we protect our privacy (and others’)?
Frequent student misconceptions: Only you are affected by your privacy choices;
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Privacy and security: Privacy risks include scams, embarrassment, hurting people’s feelings, cyberbullying and threats to property or personal safety; Taking proactive steps to manage your privacy can limit privacy risks
- Ethics and empathy: Ways of protecting others’ privacy
- Key vocabulary: personal information
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Use: Manage privacy risks by proactively employing privacy strategies
- Understand: Identify the privacy risks of different devices, apps and online activities
- Engage: Make good choices about others’ privacy
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A1 Transferable Skills
A1.2 Student Agency and Engagement
evaluate and explain how transferable skills help them express their voice, be engaged in their learning, and plan the next steps to develop their capabilities and potential
A2 Digital Media Literacy
A2.1 Digital Citizenship
explain their rights and responsibilities when interacting online with appropriate permission, and make decisions that contribute positively to the development of their digital identity and those of their communities
A2.2 Online Safety, Well-Being and Etiquette
demonstrate an understanding of how to navigate online environments safely, manage their privacy and personal data, and interact in a way that supports their well-being and that of others, including seeking appropriate permission
A2.7 Community and Cultural Awareness
communicate and collaborate with various communities in a safe, respectful, responsible, and inclusive manner when using online platforms and environments, including digital and media tools, and demonstrate cultural awareness with members of the community
Strand D: Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts
D1. Developing Ideas and Organizing Content
D1.1 Purpose and Audience
identify the topic, purpose, and audience for various texts they plan to create, and explain why the chosen text form, genre, and medium suit the purpose and audience, and how they will help communicate the intended meaning
D1.2 Developing Ideas
generate and develop ideas and details about various topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences
D1.3 Research
Grade 4: gather information and content relevant to a topic, using a variety of sources and strategies, and record the sources of information
Grade 5: gather and record information and content relevant to a topic, using multiple textual sources; verify the reliability of sources, using simple criteria; and record the creator and source of all content created by others
Grade 6: gather information and content relevant to a topic, using multiple textual sources; summarize the information; verify the reliability of sources; and record the creator and source of all content created by others
D1.4 Organizing Content
Grades 4-5: select and classify ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and sequence content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium
Grade 6: classify and sequence ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and identify and organize relevant content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium
D2. Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
Grades 4-5: draft texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 6: draft complex texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, expository, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
D3 Publishing, Presenting, and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
Grade 4: produce final texts using a variety of techniques and tools, including simple digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
Grade 5: produce final texts using a variety of techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
Grade 6: produce final texts, selecting a variety of suitable techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
Information that could be connected to you, or used to identify you.