Screen addiction and cyberbullying: Montreal students learn online safety in much-loved digital literacy class

More and more young people are attached to their phones and posting every aspect of their lives online. But some aren’t always aware of the potential risks and dangers involved.

Students at East Hill Elementary School in Montreal’s Rivière-des-Prairies are learning about online safety, and being warned about screen time addiction.

The Digital Literacy/Online Safety initiative is part of East Hill’s Media and Technology academic program, one that media teacher Nadia Barrafato says is loved by all of their students.

“It’s a program that they enjoy,” she said.

“Our students have voiced that they love this class, that they are happy to wake up in the morning and come to school when they have media.”

Barrafato says the class has many benefits.

“It’s a class that teaches 21st century skills and that allows for them to work collaboratively. It allows them to problem solve. It allows them to think critically. There’s no such things as mistakes here in the media lab. We encourage mistakes actually,” she said.

“The ultimate goal of the media program is to truly prepare our students for high school and the real world. And at the core of the program is really to to gain knowledge about internet safety and digital citizenship. We really want our students to be able to use technology, but we also want them to use it safely. So that’s the goal.”

Pre-kindergarten and students from Grades 1 and 2 attend the lab twice a week, whereas Grades 3 to 6 attend once a week.

Barrafato says the program starts with a general overview of how to use technology and operate computers — using input and output devices.

The younger grades use a programed called Kid Pix Deluxe 3D. As of Grade 2, students learn about correct finger positioning while using a program called TypingPal.

Barrafato explains that for Grades 3 to 6, they vary with different software. In Grade 5, students learn about coding.

“It’s more of a specific examination of the different forms of media in Grade 6,” explained Barrafato.

Internet safety is addressed as of Grade 3, but Grade 5 is where they take all the knowledge they’ve learnt and become “experts.”

Students in Grade 5 are divided into groups and use the media lab to design and code their very own video game with their “business partner.” Afterwards, the games are used to test third graders and address online safety.

“They have to work on a business plan first, and then once they generate their ideas, they then move on to creating a video game using Scratch, and that’s when they learn how to code,” Barrafato said. “And their target audience, what they keep in mind at all times is Grade 3. And so you have an older student teaching a younger student how to stay safe, and I think that’s fantastic.”

Students have to fill out a “Game Design Snapshot” and come up with a company name, then decide who is the president and vice-president of the group. They also have to come up with a video game title, a list of characters, and ideas for settings for the backgrounds. In addition, they also have to establish obstacles and challenges for the game, and instructions — yes or no questions, or multiple choice questions for their users to answer.

Barrafato says the brainstorming process and the discussion that takes place between two partners is important. By filling out a “game summary story,” students generate ideas of how their game will sound and look.

Students also have to come up with 10 internet safety and cyber bulling questions based on their notes.

“Students interact with technology,” Barrafato said.

“Students use technology, it’s part of their everyday lives. And so I think it’s really important that when you learn something, that you’re able to share that with someone else. And I think that’s when true learning takes place. And what better way for a younger student to learn about internet safety and cyber bullying and digital citizenship through an older student’s game? So I think that’s really meaningful.”

“My favourite part about this class is it’s fun and educational,” said Grade 5 student Mila Grossi.

“We get to like communicate with our friends and to learn more stuff and to like be open about stuff and be confident,” added student Melania Verrillo.

Melania worked with her classmate to create a game.

“Me and my partner Eric, we’re basically working on a game. It’s about cyberbullying and stuff. And so, what it’s about is that we’re going to make two kids or teenagers walk down the street, like on the sidewalk, and somebody’s going to ask them for their personal information. It’s going to ask them questions like, for example, ‘What’s your name?’ or ‘What’s your email address?’

“And then we’re going to show them a question saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ if it’s OK or not OK. If they say it’s not OK, then it’s because it’s a stranger, right? So you don’t want to share your personal information with a stranger. So we’re going to write ‘No,’ and if they say ‘No,’ then that’s good. But if they say ‘Yes,’ then that’s not good.”

Students Tiffany Errico and Eva Ciambrone worked together to create the game “Mystery in the Castle.”

“Our game’s about these people,” Tiffany said. “These people are princesses, a prince and a princess. Well, they’re in a castle, and they have to try to get internet safety questions right. If they don’t, they lose a life. They have three lives. At the end, if they got all the questions right, they get a reward, and you get to continue the game. If they lose all their questions, they have to restart the whole game.”

Tiffany explained the importance of their game.

“This game is important because we need to teach people how to be nicer online and not to be mean and cyberbully,” she expressed.

“I love this class very much. And the most fun thing about it is that we get to make our own video games.”

Eva also shared her admiration for the class and their game.

“For me, my favourite thing about this class is I wake up in the morning and just like, yeah, I’m going to go to a media class today, and I’m all excited,” she said.

“What I think this game would be good in teaching little kids is that, so let’s say when they grow up and they’re in high school, and again, it’s online situation where someone asks them for their photo, they should always say no, because those people who have their photo, they could do whatever they want with it. So I think these games with internet safety questions are good for kids to know what to do when you’re in a situation online.”

Classmates Massimo Giovanni Sansalone and Liam Christian Dionne Zelaya are currently working on their game.

“We’re working on a game that a cat has to collect the tacos without missing any. And he has three lives, and if he misses three tacos, then he has to restart, and he has to reach a score of 100,” said Massimo.

“Whenever you get a question right, it gets you a taco, and if you get it wrong, you lose a life,” he added.

“We asked if, for example, if an ad pops up, should you click on it? And the answer was no,” explained Liam.

“It’s important because we’re teaching kids how to be safe online, and it’s like for like the kids not to get cyberbullying, and so they don’t go on like some random stuff, and yeah.”

Angela Cotugno and Bianca Alves are designing a game called “Super Cat and the internet safety challenge.”

“We’re designing about a super cat that is saving the world by a bad squirrel,” Angela said. “And he has to go through a different series of challenges and answer questions to dodge his attacks. Like for example, what do you do if a stranger asks you for your personal information? And if you get the answer wrong, you have to restart the question. But if you get the answer right, you move on.

“We came up with this idea because we thought it would be fun to involve animals with it. And we thought that it would be really creative to add like wizard squirrels and the squirrels’ henchmen and a super cat. And I thought that was really fun to make.”

Added Bianca: “You need to teach people about online safety, especially younger kids. Because when they’re older, they might not understand about online safety. And that could lead to them getting hurt online and things like that.

“It’s an important topic to learn about because if you don’t learn about it, then you might not be able to use technology like other people who learned about it. And it could be dangerous.

“It’s just fun to incorporate internet safety and everything we’re learning into a fun game that can help little kids learn about it.”

“If you’re stuck at home one day and you’re on your internet and you have questions that are asked about your personal information, you have to inform your parents right away,” Angela added. “And it’s also really important because you need to think before you post something on yourself, about yourself on the internet.

“My favourite part about this class is that you could be creative of teaching little kids of how to be safe on the internet.”

With technology being different in this generation, and more youngsters being attached to their phones, Barrafato said this program helps students become more aware of what is happening.

“This program definitely makes them more aware,” the East Hill teacher said. “Technology is part of their everyday lives. We need to accept that. However, too much of anything, overuse is not a good thing. So we need to, you know, educate our students. We need to make sure that there’s a balance and that they’re mindful when they’re using technology, that we set boundaries. And discussions should take place at home and at school.”

Student Simona Tirone explained the importance of teaching others about online safety.

“I think teaching younger people about online safety is important because they get to learn how to be safe and make sure to do the right stuff while they’re online,” she said.

Her classmate, Sofia Signore agrees.

“I think it’s important because they’re still young so they might not have their own devices yet. So it’s good that we’re teaching them for the future when they do get their own devices so that they do what they’re supposed to be doing,” she said.

Both students share a love for the class.

“I like the way that you’re able to have fun but at the same time you learn about how to stay safe online,” said Sofia.

“I like doing projects that show your creativity with computers,” added Simona.

Grade 5 student Emma Vescio also shared her thoughts on the importance of online safety.

“It’s important because when you grow up you never know what can pop up on your phone or on your screen, so it’s always good to like know before ahead of time so you don’t get bullied, cyberbullied, you know what to do when you see an unknown phone number.”

Emma says she’s learned a lot from being the class. “Like how to think before doing things, how to know when you have, like when you’re have a group chat, you know how to deal with it, to know what to do when you see cyberbullying.”

“You never know if something’s gonna pop up or like someone’s gonna be bullying another person,” added her classmate Eva Teresa Franchi. “And if you don’t know what to do, you could be in the drama like with them, if you don’t tell like a teacher or one of your parents. And I think it’s very important to learn because if you don’t know what to do, it’s like you don’t know what to do, and you can’t tell your parents if you don’t know what to do.”

She adds that her favourite part about the class is “learning new stuff and sometimes you’re making mistakes but then after we learn after those mistakes.”

At the end of the year, Barrafato hopes to have an arcade where her Grade 5 students can get feedback from the third graders, and see their reactions as they actually play the games the students have put together. Afterwards, they are free to make an arcade game of their choice.

As for next year, when students are in Grade 6, they will get to to learn about advertising.

“We look at techniques of persuasion that advertisers use in the real world. They create companies. We have what is called a Shark Tank project at the end of the year. So every year there are different projects that we focus on and that build, so that when they get to high school, they truly have an understanding of technology and how to stay safe,” said Barrafato.

She hopes that students will apply the knowledge they’ve learned.

“As soon as there’s someone that gains knowledge about something, I encourage them to teach other teams and they learn from one another all the time. So not only are they learning from one another here in the lab, but then they’re also teaching younger kids how to stay safe online. It’s a perfect recipe.”