Hector’s World™ – Lesson Plan

Episode 1 – ‘Details, Details…’ This is the first in a series of seven lessons.

BACKGROUND:

Very young children may be quick to volunteer information about themselves both on and offline, and to people who appear to be an authority figure. This lesson aims to teach children that some information is ‘precious’ or ‘special’ because it applies just to them. This personal information is as valuable online as it is offline, and should therefore not be shared without a parent or teacher’s permission.

OBJECTIVES:

Children understand that some information about themselves is special because it makes them unique.

Children know that they should never give out their personal details online without a parent or teacher’s permission.

PROCESS:

Explain to children that some information is special and belong only to you such as your name and where you live.

ACTIVITY:

Ask the children 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 method of fastening shoes (lace-up, Velcro, buckle, etc.)

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 children 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 (e.g. 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 (shy, talkative etc.).

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

In order to create the necessary cognitive link between the exercise above and the learning objective in the episode, you may wish to make use of the following introduction:

“In this cartoon you are going to meet a group of friends who live under the sea. Watch carefully and you will soon see that each of the friends is special and different. One of them is in a rush to do things, one is a bit bossy, and another is sensible and likes helping his friends. While you are enjoying the cartoon, think about what the friends are learning about their personal information.”

View Hector’s World episode 1 “Details, Details…”

At the conclusion of the first viewing, spend no more than three or four minutes checking that the children have at least a basic understanding of the story.

View a second time. Before doing so, ask the children to try to remember:

What information Ranjeet was going to send.

Why Kui said not to share the information.

What Hector’s suggestion was.

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.

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 device like Xbox® or PlayStation® Portable.

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY:

Children complete a sheet which has room to list two ‘special’ pieces of information about themselves and is designed to emphasise the ‘precious’ nature of the information.