The Chatroom Safety Storybook- An Online Safety Activity for KS2.
The Learning Library contains a set of quality online resources covering areas as diverse as online safety, digital literacy, recycling, mathematics and English. There are several different types of resource such as activities for children to undertake as a class-based or individual activity, live games where they can compete (but not communicate) with others and interactive teaching tools as well as support materials. In this section we will focus on one resource in each newsletter to give you an idea of both the diversity of the resources and the impact that they can have on learning.
Age Range: Y3-Y6
Description: Storybook activity demonstrating how to stay safe in chatrooms and what to do if someone comes across someone/something about which they are unsure, or causes upset, online out of school. This may be assigned to pupils as an individual activity, but we would highly recommend that it is used as a class-based teaching tool.
More information about using this Storybook.
On first appearances the Storybook may appear too simple and unsuited to older children, but it provides significant opportunities for quality discussions for children who are already undertaking social activity online. This storybook was used by many schools as part of our Safer Internet Day 2019 activity with much success. Schools reported high quality discussions with older children following use of this resource. We use it to introduce the Stop, Check, Share approach to online safety for children.
We would recommend that teachers focus learning on two slides in the Storybook.
Slide 2/7 shows Lucy’s screen when a strange message appears. This slide is excellent for engaging children in discussion about what to look for regarding warning signs of inappropriate activity.
Explain what the screen shows e.g. who is online, the users engaged in the conversation, the difference between dialogue (black text) and information (green text). Also explain the text reads from bottom up, with the latest message at the top. Read the introductory sentence or play the audio clip to the end of that sentence. Ask the children to identify the strange message and get them to consider why Lucy thinks it’s strange. They should identify the username (not matching the other users) and the content of the post (indicates they are new to the chatroom, are not part of the group and it is asking for personal information that they should not share online).
For older children we recommend returning to this slide at the end of the activity and discussing further. We let them know that most people would not ask for personal information so directly at the start of a conversation but build towards it. We also consider other ways that someone may ask for their personal information such as turning it into a game, sharing a secret, disclosing some of their personal information (not always truthfully) bribery or flattery. Our guide to manipulation may be a useful resource to support this activity.
Slide 4/7 asks the children what Lucy should do about the strange message.
The correct answer – Tell an Adult- is fine for younger children but is too simplistic and probably does not match reality for older children. We therefore, recommend a discussion about the other two responses depending on the age and experience of the children. Lucy responding to the chat would be appropriate only if she doesn’t share her personal information and tries to ascertain who User58 is. She would need to consider how User58 could verify they are genuine. Ignoring and logging off would be acceptable if Lucy was not upset and had not seen anything threatening or malicious. She would need to understand that by logging off she would have no evidence of the incident and an adult may not be able to find out more later. Accepting sensible responses is a key way of showing that just because something strange may happen, not everything online is dangerous- we just need to take sensible steps to protect ourselves.
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