Yesterday was Internet Safety Day! The theme for this year’s national Safer Internet Day is ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online.’
Our first lesson was about misinformation, disinformation and hoaxes. The children were given 3 news articles to analyse and summarise. They then had to share this information with their friends over message. What they didn’t know is that these articles were hoaxes (false information made to deceive people). I shared this information with them on purpose (disinformation) and they had then shared it by accident (misinformation).
Year 5 discussed how we must be critical users of the internet to make sure false information is not spread to affect others. Ibby said, ‘I would check other websites to make sure the information was correct’. Nate said, ‘I would look at the URL to make sure it is a safe and reliable website’.
It’s really important to always speak to a trusted adult if you’re unsure about something you read online.
We joined a great BBC live lesson for Safer Internet Day all about scamming and phishing. Phishing involves tricking someone into giving out personal information online by pretending to be someone else. We learnt how to spot a phishing scam using a helpful acronym.
We then learnt about why it’s important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online. Personal information that websites/apps/games collect could be anything from name and address to birthday, hobbies and even bank details. We need to keep this information safe whilst online and not give it to just anyone!
Help at home: Can you think of at least 4 pieces of personal information that we should keep private? How can you be critical users of the internet?