Creating and Evaluating Privacy and Security Micro-Lessons for Elementary School Children
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
Mar 10, 2025
Abstract
The growing use of technology in K--8 classrooms highlights a parallel need
for formal learning opportunities aimed at helping children use technology
safely and protect their personal information. Even the youngest students are
now using tablets, laptops, and apps to support their learning; however, there
are limited curricular materials available for elementary and middle school
children on digital privacy and security topics. To bridge this gap, we
developed a series of micro-lessons to help K--8 children learn about digital
privacy and security at school. We first conducted a formative study by
interviewing elementary school teachers to identify the design needs for
digital privacy and security lessons. We then developed micro-lessons --
multiple 15-20 minute activities designed to be easily inserted into the
existing curriculum -- using a co-design approach with multiple rounds of
developing and revising the micro-lessons in collaboration with teachers.
Throughout the process, we conducted evaluation sessions where teachers
implemented or reviewed the micro-lessons. Our study identifies strengths,
challenges, and teachers' tailoring strategies when incorporating micro-lessons
for K--8 digital privacy and security topics, providing design implications for
facilitating learning about these topics in school classrooms.
