Teaching primary students about private and public information sharing

Here I am sharing a classroom resource (engaging animated videos supported by lesson plans and worksheets) that I have found online that involves primary students exploring private and public information sharing.

Through this resource students will learn how to become safe and responsible digital citizens by only sharing personal information with people they trust and keeping their computers safe. They will also learn about the importance of seeking guidance from a trusted adult when they feel unsafe or uneasy online or if they experience cyber bullying.

Hector’s World

Link to the resource:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators/classroom-resources/hectors-world

Activity
Ask the students to get into a group with everyone else who has the same following
characteristics as themselves:
• number of eyes
• number of legs
• boy or girl
• in the same reading group
• the same colour hair
• the same colour t-shirt

• the same method of fastening shoes. For example, lace-up, Velcro or buckle.
• the same first name
• lives in the same house
• the same first and last name.

By the end of this process, each child should be standing alone. Ask the students to put up
their hand if they are the only person in their group. Everyone should have their hand up.
Ask them to explain why they are standing alone, that is, no-one else has the same name.

Explain that although they do have a lot of things in common, each of them is special
and not exactly like anybody else. Some of the things that make us different are our
names, what we look like, what we like doing, or our personality.

Explain that they are now going to watch a cartoon about how important it is to keep
their special personal information safe.

View Hector’s World™ Episode 1: Details, Details…

https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators/classroom-resources/hectors-world/your-personal-information-online
• what information Ranjeet was going to send
• why Kui said not to share the information
• what Hector’s suggestion was.

Review the lesson, including these points:

What is special about personal information?
It makes us unique and is the important information that can be used to identify us.
For example, if children get lost, giving their personal information to a police officer
will held find the children’s parents.
• Because this information is so special, we should be careful who we share it with
when we meet people offline and online.
• Children should never share their personal information online without asking a
parent or teacher first. Online includes the computer, mobile phone, or gaming

Teacher’s hints: You might prefer to divide the class into three, and allocate one question to each
group. Alternatively you could work with the whole class, pausing the animation
if possible between questions rather than asking all three questions at the very
beginning.

Follow up activity
Students complete the following sheet which has room to list two ‘special’ pieces of
information about themselves and is designed to emphasise the ‘precious’ nature of the
information.

Additional resources: This poster can be displayed on the classroom’s wall to help students visualize what do we mean by private and public information.