Have you ever wondered if all that smartphone scrolling, snapping, and texting affects your brain? Scientists do, and they’re looking to find out if “screen time”—time spent looking at smartphones, computers, and television screens—changes the developing brain.
This is a resource library with downloadable PDFs related to the topics of online safety, cyberbullying, social media, cell phone safety, and technology use. These resources are geared for both students and educators.
By the end of the lesson, students will:
Be introduced to the skill of analyzing influences;
Be able to describe the difference between an internal and external influence;
Review and analyze a series of pictures, ads, and videos (from healthy eating, ATOD, and violence prevention content areas) to determine how they feel after watching/seeing the images and if it is a positive or negative influence;
Be able to explain if someone is influenced in a negative way how it may impact their behaviors; and
Describe a variety of ways we are influenced.
The influence of media can be strong. It's important to have the skills to analyze these messages. This is a lesson to help students navigate media and technology.
In the past decades, a dazzling number of studies have investigated the effects of old and new media on children and teens. These studies have greatly improved our understanding of why youth are so massively attracted to media. And they have also shown how children and teens can be affected by media, in positive and negative ways. Plugged In provides insight into the most important issues and debates regarding media, children, and teens.
This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey tells how two scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, used the research findings of Alexander Fleming to turn a natural compound, penicillin, into an effective treatment for bacterial infections. Their tests in mice and later in human patients demonstrated penicillin's ability to cure such infections.
Learn about Multiple Sclerosis or MS. Kerrie Giesen, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, describes what MS is and how to work with it using adaptive equipment for the best quality of life.
"No more screen time!" Many frustrated parents have issued that edict to kids who all-too-frequently have their noses buried in the screen of a digital device! This episode talks to education experts to set the record straight: In terms of learning impacts, when does a screen work best, and when should kids be engaged in alternative forms of interactions, such as textbooks, human, and hands-on projects?
Cyber-bullying is where one or more children targets another through technology such as the Internet, cell phones, or other devices to threaten, harass, or embarrass another child. Cyber-bullying goes beyond just bullying because it can follow you home. You can stop cyber-bullying by not responding to any of it, saving the evidence, and reporting it. This video can be played during a lesson on internet safety.
Assistive technology tools make learning easy for students with disabilities. Learn about touch screen technology, and how it used as a mode of education, communication, navigation, accessibility and inclusion for those with disabilities. This video can be played during a lesson on assistive technology.
All parents hope to be role models for their kids – but when it comes to media habits, kids are paying attention to how mom and dad use media and the habits they’re picking up from you aren’t always good!
Ignition: Digital Wellness and Safety is a digital literacy curriculum designed to provide students with the information literacy skills they need to safely and confidently navigate the digital world.
These six digital responsibility lessons encourage students to take practical steps to protect their own privacy and safety online, while also teaching them how to evaluate content for accuracy, perspective, and motive. Ignition helps students acknowledge the benefits of digital communities and resources while guiding them to successfully navigate potential pitfalls in their digital lives.
This alignment results from the ALEX Health/PE COS Resource Alignment Summit.
This resource is part of the Frontline collection, describing the evolution of digital media from an industry that sought out teens to one in which teens seek out content to “like.” As school-aged children spend more time in digital spaces, companies are able to use information that they gather from their activities. This is different from how it once was. In 2001, corporations chased kids down and tried to sell cool teen culture back to them. Today, teens tell the world what they think is cool using the social currency of their generation: likes, follows, friends, and retweets. When kids like something online, it becomes part of the identity that they broadcast to the world.
