Month: November 2023

Incorporating digital literacy in highschool science is an important step to focus on in a student’s learning. Science is the subject that looks at the natural order of the world. If a student has misinformed ideas, it can be a detriment to themselves and society as a whole. David Lazer and his colleagues even suggest in their paper “The science in Fake news“, misinformation can influence people towards cynacism and extremism.

Health Science 20 focuses on the human body and nutrition. A student without proper digital literacy can go on a diet from a random influencer without taking in the full consequences of what they are about to go through. Science 10 has a unit on humanities influence on the environment. If a student sees an article promoting the idea that nature hasn’t changed at all in the past 100 years, they might go on to continue a lifestyle that feeds into a destructive ecological cycle. 

At the beginning of the given school year / semester, I would start the first couple of classes teaching about digital literacy in science. I would demonstrate that google can’t always give reliable answers (Source). Another source I would use to teach digital literacy would be Media Manipulation and Disinformation online and apply it to a scientific lens. Throughout the semester, I would also attempt to implement a current topic or debate to the appropriate subject (genetic cloning for bio 30, climate change for science 10, etc..).

I love puzzles, especially ones that involve logic. It’s a form of mental exercise that is sometimes lacking in life. It’s satisfying to stretch the muscles and find different possibilities to tackle a puzzle. And when the solution is found and the puzzle is complete, there is a silent yet cathartic release of dopamine in the brain that leaves you pleased with the work you put into it. Or if it was a puzzle you were working on for days and had a really easy solution, a loud cathartic groan can be heard along with the palms in one’s face. Puzzles are great.

This week, I went to Code.org and chose Minecraft Hero’s Journey Hour of Code. I was a bit confused at first as I thought I would be inputting the code for Steve (the character). I quickly realized I was inputting the code for the robot companion, which I should have realized had I read the instructions properly. Once I understood what was going on, I began to breeze through the puzzles, one by one. I then noticed the additional objective of retrieving the diamond before ending the puzzle. From that point onwards, the diamond was the priority before finishing the level. I finished all the levels within 30 min, which was great but also annoying as I wanted to complete more. The last level was a free play level, encouraging the user to create code using what they just learned. I fiddled around with it and made a loop. It was a bit more tedious than expected as I needed to cross over the river. I spent more time attempting to figure out how to create the loop than any of the previous levels. Part of that time was understanding some new commands that were not previously there before. The other part of that time was understanding where I went wrong, fix the mistake, then wait for the code to reach the fixed point. I eventually did create my loop and was satisfied to shut the program down. Overall, it was a great experience and a great introduction to coding for students.. It did a good job at keeping me engaged with the coding material with something I was familiar with (Minecraft texture). 

I never had much coding experience growing up. I had a friend that dabbled in it from time to time, but I had no interest. It looked like a foreign language that I would never have to think about. When I came to the UofR, I had to take a computer science course, which meant I had to learn coding. The material itself was bland at first, but once I understood the building blocks, I had more fun with it. That being said, it was still stressful, especially when the code didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. I had a better appreciation for coding once the class was done and can see why so many people are fascinated by it.  I think students are hesitant to learn coding because portrayals of coding in the media can be seen as “complicated” or “nerdy”. Websites like Hour of Code or Code Academy break the stigma, showing that the material can be broken down to digestible bite-sized portions and be relatable in their artistic endeavors. 

As society leans more heavily into technology, it makes sense for students to learn about it prior to university. Coding is utilized everywhere, from computer programs to phones to cars. There are tons of job opportunities that come with it. Coding also allows students to think with logic using visual aids. They can see the consequence for each of their actions and can correct them accordingly. They are able to understand the logic for themselves without having to be told where they went wrong.

I don’t remember much education on cyber security or digital citizenship during my pre-university years. Most of my education surrounding cyber safety was through my dad, who was an RCMP officer and was aware of the dark side of the internet. I vaguely remember 3 instances of school-driven education around this topic.  

One was the scare tactic based ads during middle school. When I watched them, I viewed them as informative rather than being scared of the internet. I learned to be aware of the choices I made on the internet and only contacted people who I knew.  I also didn’t have Facebook, Instagram or any kind of social media until grade 11/12. This choice was partly due to my parents, but also partly due to my recognition that I didn’t need it. Most of my communication through middle and highschool was through gmail and the textplus/nextplus app on my ipod touch. I was satisfied with that level of communication until there was a need to upgrade it for school projects (Facebook messenger). 

 A couple months into grade 10, we had an assembly regarding the suicide of Amanda Todd. I remember watching the original video. I recall having a sense of shock and sadness at the time, questioning why or how someone could do that. We were aware of the concept of cyber-bullying in middle school, but Amanda Todd showed us what kind of repercussions cyber-bullying had. Although it was tragic, I learned that bullying didn’t have to be seen in the school for it to happen. 

Finally, the last instance I remember was an assembly with The White Hatter. I don’t recall whether it was during middle school or highschool, but he did leave an impression. He advocated for online privacy and internet safety. He would systematically go through what a black hat or predator would do to achieve their goal, then give solutions and countermeasures against them. I found the methods black hats / predators used were fascinating and solidified my approach to the internet and how I used it. I would argue that while this could be a form of a scare-tactic, it was also informative of its approach.

I think the best way to approach digital citizenship is to be informative. Show that while the digital realm has a lot of positives to gain, there is also a dark side of the realm one needs to be aware of and that it can take various forms. The direct dark side reflects the “stranger danger” and cyber-bullying aspects while the indirect dark side reflects privacy agreements and invasions with various media platforms.