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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 8 of 12

Digital Citizens

Safe, smart and respectful online

What your child practices

Staying safe and respectful online, protecting privacy, spotting misinformation and disinformation, understanding how feeds are curated, and thinking about audience and purpose in digital and media texts.

Alaska content standards learning standard: W.8.6; W.8.8 · judging online information and staying safe online

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Protect your privacy: ask a trusted adult before sharing personal details.
  2. Misinformation is false information shared by mistake. Disinformation is spread on purpose.
  3. Feeds are curated: chosen and arranged for you. Be respectful when working online.

Example: A website asks for your home address to enter a contest. What is the best response? Your address is private information. Check before sharing anything. Answer: ask a trusted adult and check whether the site is legitimate before sharing

Digital Citizens in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 8 of 12 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Reading Detective and before Write It Better.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What does “curated” mean in this passage?

    Why Your Feed Looks Like That

    Video apps keep track of what you watch, like and skip. Then they use that information to choose what to show you next. If you watch three skateboarding videos, you will probably see more.

    This can be helpful, because you find topics you enjoy. But it also means each person sees a different, curated version of the app, and you may rarely see views that differ from your own.

    • deleted
    • selected and arranged for you
    • free of cost
    • made by hand

  2. Question 2

    What kind of information is this post?

    A Post That Spread

    Last Tuesday, a photo went around the school group chat: a long line of people outside an electronics store, with the caption “Free phones tomorrow! Share now!” Within an hour it had 400 shares.

    Nobody checked the store's website, which said nothing about a giveaway. The photo was actually from a sale three years earlier.

    • a verified announcement
    • a curated news report
    • an official advertisement
    • false information that spread quickly

  3. Question 3

    Your digital footprint is…

    • the trail of information about you that is left online
    • the speed of your internet
    • a password
    • the size of your device

  4. Question 4

    A website asks for your home address and phone number to enter a contest. What is the best response?

    • post the contest for friends before you decide
    • ask a trusted adult and check whether the site is legitimate before sharing
    • fill it in, because contests are always safe
    • use a made-up name but your real address

  5. Question 5

    Why did the post spread so fast?

    A Post That Spread

    Last Tuesday, a photo went around the school group chat: a long line of people outside an electronics store, with the caption “Free phones tomorrow! Share now!” Within an hour it had 400 shares.

    Nobody checked the store's website, which said nothing about a giveaway. The photo was actually from a sale three years earlier.

    • The store paid for it.
    • Its facts had been checked.
    • Social media shows only true posts.
    • People shared it without checking because it was exciting.

  6. Question 6

    Misinformation is…

    • false information that is shared without meaning to cause harm
    • a private message
    • true information that is old
    • false information made up on purpose to deceive

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