Posted: 09th Jun, 2004 By: MarkJ
According to new research conducted by the Institute of Education, many children view the darker sides of the Internet through an exaggerated perspective. In plain English, they think it's scarier than it actually is:
Unfounded parental anxiety about the internet not only reduces childrens awareness of the very real risks such as believing everything you read but means kids may lose out on the myriad benefits of logging on, the Institute said.
To counter this the Institute is piloting a European Educaunet training programme in Primary and Secondary education. First launched in Greece in May, followed by France, Belgium, Denmark and Portugal, the programme employs stories, games, role play and online activities to promote in young browsers a responsible and critical attitude to the internet.
The aim is to demolish popular playground myths such as internet viruses infecting users or computers causing blindness, and to promote the kind of media-savviness that comes with watching movies, reading books and newspapers, or playing computer games.More @
Web-User.