New Tool Teaches Digital Citizenship to Middle School Students

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Middle School students can learn how to navigate the complex digital world with Investigating Digital Citizenship, an interactive educational curriculum created by SAE International’s A World In Motion® (AWIM) and d’Vinci Interactive.

Investigating Digital Citizenship gives teachers and students a fun and safe way to explore how social media and online content can impact young people and what skills they need to be responsible digital citizens.

Using over 10 activities, middle school students learn about digital safety, ethics, communication, and literacy through illustrated characters set on stage at a school drama production. The characters must decipher clues, solve puzzles, and answer questions related to digital citizenship as they journey together to help a friend in need.

The characters are representative of a diverse school population to make them relatable to all learners.

“Preparing students of all ages for an evolving digital world is imperative. They need to learn how to engage with technology in a way that empowers them to make responsible, developmentally-appropriate, and positive decisions,” said Jamie Ferguson, Head of SAE Foundation and STEM Learning. “This second challenge in our new digital citizenship curriculum series, focused on middle school students, emphasizes SAE’s continued commitment to inspiring a generation of learners to be safe, smart, and empathetic in their online community,” she added.  

Investigating Digital Citizenship utilizes the ISTE, CSTA, and Common Core ELA for lesson alignment. In addition to the digital interactives, educators may access a teacher’s guide and printable handouts for students. For more information about purchasing the course, please visit sae.org/learn/education.

SAE International and d’Vinci Interactive also created the award-winning online curriculum, Navigating the Digital Universe, which teaches elementary students the importance of digital citizenship and STEM Sagas: Virtually Rerouted, a 30-page digital comic book that pairs an adventurous storyline and compelling visuals with information about cybersecurity, computer programming and digital citizenship for 4th through 8th grade students.

 

About SAE International
SAE International is a global organization committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. By engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers, we connect and educate mobility professionals to enable safe, clean, and accessible mobility solutions. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including award-winning programs like A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™. Learn more at www.sae.org.