Digital Literacy and Online Safety (Year 3)

About this unit:

Six lessons taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent digital citizenship curriculum, covering a wide range of topics including well-being, privacy and security, online identity, relationships, communication and the media.

National Curriculum Links - Computing KS2

The content of this plan cover the following NC strands: 

  • use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
  • select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information
  • use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.

 

Curriculum Mapping

Why this? What does it build on?

This unit builds on important online safety messages that will be delivered in Key Stage 1. Students cover a range of age-appropriate online safety and digital literacy themes in Keeping safe and exploring technology (Year 1) and Keep safe and create (Year 2). As the students enter Key Stage 2, the themes they learn about in this unit widen to include; screen time issues, privacy, digital footprints, online communities, online bullying and copyright principles.

What comes next?

The digital literacy content in this unit will be built upon and continue in even more depth with our Digital Literacy and online safety units for Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6.

Other units also include online safety and digital literacy messages, such as Communication and collaboration, Computational thinking - Alien contact, Building Collaborative websites, Manipulating images and Inside the internet.

View our full curriculum map

Take a look at our full curriculum map to see how units across all year groups, from Year 1 to Year 6 link.

A note about this unit

Common Sense Education

The lessons in this unit or work are taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent Digital Citizenship curriculum. Their resources are shared for free under A Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International LicenseAs a result, this plan can be accessed without logging into our site and is FREE FOR ALL TO USE. It can be shared and used by anyone under the terms of that licenseThe original materials can be found at: https://www.commonsense.org/education/uk/digital-citizenship

 

Education for a Connected World

The Education for a Connected World framework describes the Digital knowledge and skills that children and young people should have the opportunity to develop at different ages and stages of their lives. It highlights what a child should know in terms of current online technology, its influence on behaviour and development, and what skills they need to be able to navigate it. Common Sense resources are recommended in the Education for a Connected World framework as essential skills for today's learners. Both resources together, along with Project Evolve, provide you with an excellent set of tools to deliver a comprehensive online safety and digital literacy curriculum.

Education for a Connected World's strands align with Common Sense Education's Digital Citizenship strands in the following way:

 

Look out for more detail in each of the lessons in this unit, about the strands and statements from Education for a Connected World that link to each lesson.

Unit Resources

Unit Resources

Resources for this unit can be found on each lesson page below.

Unit Assessment Sheet

Use our simple assessment system to measure your students' success in this unit of work.

Lessons

Lesson 1

  • Recognise the ways in which digital devices can be distracting.
  • Identify how they feel when others are distracted by their devices.
  • Identify ideal device-free moments for themselves and others.

Lesson 2

  • Recognise the kind of information that is private.
  • Understand that they should never give out private information online.

 

Lesson 3

  • Learn that the information they share online leaves a digital footprint or "trail"
  • Explore what information is OK to be shared online

Lesson 4

  • Compare and contrast how they are connected to different people and places, in person and on the internet
  • Demonstrate an understanding of how people can connect on the internet

Lesson 5

  • Understand what online meanness can look like and how it can make people feel
  • Identify ways to respond to mean words online, using S-T-O-P

Lesson 6

  • Explain how giving credit is a sign of respect for people's work
  • Learn how to give credit in their schoolwork for content they use from the internet

Full Computing Glossary

Take a look at our full computing glossary, plus key vocabulary for each age group.

Key vocabulary for this unit

Attention - noticing someone or something as important

Community - people who share a common neighbourhood, background, or interests

Concentration - giving your full attention to a specific activity

Credit - giving recognition to a person that created something

Digital footprint - a record of what you do online, including the sites you visit and the things you share

Distraction - something that keeps you from giving your full attention

Internet - a worldwide network that connects people using computers, phones, or other devices

Online - using a computer, phone, or tablet to visit a website or app

Permanent - something that lasts forever

Private - something that you should keep to yourself

Private information - information about you that can be used to identify who you are

Respect - showing that you appreciate someone

Related units

Digital Literacy and Online Safety (Year 8)

About this unit Six lessons taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent digital citizenship curriculum, covering a wide range of topics…

Digital Literacy and Online Safety (Year 7)

About this unit Six lessons taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent digital citizenship curriculum, covering a wide range of topics…

Digital Literacy and Online Safety (Year 6)

About this unit: Six lessons taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent digital citizenship curriculum, covering a wide range of topics…

Digital Literacy and Online Safety (Year 5)

About this unit: Six lessons taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent digital citizenship curriculum, covering a wide range of topics…

Digital Literacy and Online Safety (Year 4)

About this unit: Six lessons taken from Common Sense Education’s excellent digital citizenship curriculum, covering a wide range of topics…

Keeping Safe and Exploring Technology

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please Log In. Not a Member? Join Us