In the SK curriculum, the subject area I found to be interesting is Health Education at a grade 3 level which I wanted to focus on making a connection with the nine elements of digital citizenship. The health field is continuously growing and finding ways to integrate technology into practices. Here are the indicators and outcomes I chose to focus more closely from the SK curriculum:
Indicators (3 out of 9):
- Investigate the basic role of the immune system (i.e., to fight illness and/or infection).
- Develop common and respectful language to talk about immunity (e.g., germ, virus, vaccinations, antibodies).
- Predict and then investigate what happens if the immune system is not healthy/not working properly.
Outcomes:
- USC3.1 Determine the role of a variety of healthy foods and physical activity on the health and development of the mind, body, and immune system.
I wanted focus more specifically on three of Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship.
4. Digital Etiquette
Digital etiquette has a way of integrating into health studies by allowing students to think about how technology can help improve the way we use use respectful language while talking about immunity. Certain words we use while referring to immunity can effect the way we are able to communicate what we are trying to describe . With the help of technology, we are able to create a saved list of “appropriate” words with definitions. I think a digital list of words is a good idea to use in education since we are continuously learning new words and words are forever changing meanings.
6. Digital Health and Welfare
Digital health and welfare has a huge potential to help in health studies. A huge part of using technology is knowing what is an appropriate healthy amount. Too much time online can harm our eyes and generate headaches and it is our responsibility as educators to enforce offline time, it is just as important to take screen breaks and go outside as it is to use technology in a classroom setting. Too much time online has the possibility harming our immune system to a point where it is not healthy/not working properly.
9. Digital Security and Privacy
Digital security and privacy is important to introduce in health studies since a lot of personal health records can be accessed online and we must ensure that our privacy is protected. Just like a virus spreading, online information can spread quickly. Electronic precautions to guarantee safety is a must for protecting our private health records.
Recognizing the Ribble’s nine elements of digital citizenship and integrating into a Health Education curriculum at grade 3 level has the possibly of creating a healthy and technological dynamic.