Curriculum
Safety and Security Online
Dear Educators,
CyberSmart! has very carefully examined the most current research findings in the fields of online victimization, risk-taking, and decision making. As a result, we’ve added many new lessons to and updated our existing lessons in online safety and security in our award–winning free CyberSmart! Student Curriculum.
In developing these lessons, we adopted an integrated approach using best practices from the fields of cyber security and character education to impact behavioral change. Together, the components of our package offer you the opportunity to begin a dialogue with students and build a sustained online safety and security awareness campaign to remind the school community about safe, ethical, and secure Internet use.
We talked to the researchers
Every lesson is thoroughly backed by the most current research. We talked to the researchers. Our carefully developed Internet safety and security package
- focuses on educating students, not scaring their parents
- acknowledges that it’s normal for children and teens to experiment with their identities online and focuses student learning on skills for managing impressions and audiences
- emphasizes critical thinking and decision-making skills rather than facts about specific technologies that change frequently
- responds to statistics revealing that online predators do not typically target pre-adolescent children but instead target young adolescents who know when they are talking to adults online and who willingly respond to these adults’ sexual interests
- teaches that it is risky to give personal identity information to people only known online in combination with talking online to such people about sex
- teaches young children the developmentally appropriate message that no personal identity information should be shared online without a parent’s or guardian’s permission
- makes sure teens understand that it is inappropriate for adults to flirt or exchange sexual messages with them—online or offline
- gives students strategies for responsibly managing spam, messages that make them uncomfortable, and tempting online offers that may result in downloading viruses or becoming vulnerable to identity theft
- empowers students, who are often more Internet-savvy than their parents, to help their families adopt good security practices
Tell us what you think
We encourage you to try our Internet safety and security lessons and tell us what you think. We listen very carefully to your feedback and appreciate you taking time from your busy day to contact us.
Warm regards,
All of us at CyberSmart!
The curriculum activities are perfect and address 100% of what I want the kids to know about safety and searching online. We are very impressed.
Judy Curtis, Office of Technology Staff Development, Lamar CISD, Texas
