Le Lézard
Subjects: NPT, CHI

Common Sense Launches Curriculum to Combat Sexting, Tech Addiction, Cyberbullying, and other Serious Concerns Facing Middle Schoolers


SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- By the time they're teenagers in America, 95 percent of children will have their own mobile device and will, on average, spend almost nine hours a day texting, playing games, posting to social media, watching videos, and more. With all this time spent online, tweens and teens are navigating a minefield of challenging issues, from sexting and cyberbullying to fake news and addictive design.

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In response, Common Sense today launched the Digital Citizenship Curriculum for grades 6?8, available free to all schools through its flagship Common Sense Education platform. The new, innovative resources were created in collaboration with researchers Carrie James and Emily Weinstein from Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and guided by Common Sense's own research with thousands of educators. Each lesson in the award-winning curriculum takes on the authentic concerns that students face in their connected lives, giving them the skills they need to succeed as digital learners, leaders, and citizens tomorrow.

"We're in an age where technology and social media are ubiquitous in students' lives -- both in and out of the classroom -- so it's absolutely critical that kids receive digital citizenship instruction to help them manage their increasingly complex online lives," said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense. "Through our updated curriculum, specifically designed for middle schoolers, we're pleased to offer parents and educators the guidance they're looking for on real-world issues. Digital citizens aren't born, they're taught!"

Common Sense has been at the forefront of helping educators, administrators, and schools navigate the tricky online world their students are living in. The curriculum is now used in classrooms across all 50 states and in more than 50,000 schools by more than half a million educators.

The middle school curriculum includes lessons on:

The Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum is available free to all schools thanks to the generous support of the following foundations and donors: the Best Buy Foundation, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Hearst Foundations, the Morgan Family Foundation, Niagara Cares, the Sherwood Foundation, Symantec, and the Wasserman Family Foundation.

For more information, visit https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship.

About Common Sense
Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. Learn more at commonsense.org.

Press contacts:
Colby Zintl
[email protected] 
(415) 732-9944

Susan Skinner
[email protected] 
(415) 559-2126

 

SOURCE Common Sense



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