My thoughts on Web Safety for Children

As I read A Short Introduction to the Study of Holocaust Revisionism, I was appalled. Of course I imagined there were dangerously misleading and hateful web pages out there, but I hadn't ever read one like this article by Arthur R. Butz before. I immediately had the frightening realization that this was the type of article that my fifth grade students could stumble across when conducting a general search for information using a search engine like Google. Although we have discussed the Holocaust and briefly discussed World War II, neither of these topics are the focus of our Social Studies curriculum in fifth grade. Because of this, the students do not have in depth background knowledge on which to base their evaluation of the credibility of the arguments. Therefore, they, like the student described in Alan November's article entitled Teaching Kids to be Web Literate, could possibly be persuaded by the unsubstantiated arguments of Butz.

As mentioned in several of the safety articles we read for homework this week, adults have to help the children become smart consumers of information. The Internet is a reality from which we cannot totally shelter today's youth. I found the strategies suggested by Alan November in the article referenced above and the list adapted from Elizabeth Kirk's Evaluating Internet Information to be very helpful.

Although the computer teacher usually oversees all web searches conducted by the students, I would like to help my students complete the WebQuest regarding the American Revolution. When I do this, I plan to use several strategies:

• All computer screens should be visible to me at all times.
• I will not allow students to enter chat rooms or social networking sites at school. I will also discuss the fact that the information that they write on such sites should never be too personal. Additionally, I will make them aware that the information will be searchable on the Internet in the future when they are applying for jobs. (from Talking with your kids can go a long way towards keeping them safe. by Larry Magid)
• I will also direct students to use search engines designed for children, such as those listed in Kid Search Engines by Danny Sullivan.
• Having students conduct research from Hotlists that I have created and researched will also protect them while researching at school.

In his article Teaching Kids to be Web Literate, Alan November states that "Teaching students how to make meaning from the information they access rather than simply teaching them how to access should be a top priority." Although students may be viewing sites that do not appear harmful, the unsubstantiated or biased information they share is dangerous. To help students to become more web literate, I would follow November's suggestions:

• Teach children to evaluate the credibility of the author.
• Teach students to examine the source of the links on the site.
• Teach students to research the links pointing into the site.

Additionally, I would print the list of questions adapted from Elizabeth Kirk's work mentioned above as a checklist for my students to follow. An important point made in this article is that information found on personal web pages should not be considered reliable.

Finally, I would create a t-chart with my students comparing and contrasting the process of publishing a book with publishing a web site. This would give us a visual reminder of the fact that the Internet is not edited by human beings liked published books are. I could seek information from a well-known publisher about the number of submissions they receive in a year versus the number of books that they publish. This would provide the students statistical evidence of the competition involved in publishing a book that is not present on the Internet.