Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Part A: Needing to belong

20 minutes

Part B: The adolescent brain

25 minutes

Part C: Knowing the signs

10 minutes

Reflection

Part A: Needing to belong

Safety first: Remind students of the Handling Sensitive Topics and Issues Factsheet. Review this document together and take time to clarify anything.

Step 1

Ask students to sit at their desks or on the carpet. Explain that you’re going to ask some questions and if they agree, they should stand up or raise their hand.

Alternative: If you prefer, you could have students complete the first task on the Student Worksheet.

Step 2

Ask students the following, drawing attention each time to how many stand up (hopefully, it will be most!):

Do you like?

being given presents
being told you’re good at something
being told you look cool
being listened to
feeling like someone trusts you with their secrets.

Step 3

Discuss with students how these things are, really, pretty common things for humans to like! This is because it makes us feel that we have a connection - which is an important need.

You could illustrate this by displaying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and discuss the 'belonging' and 'esteem' needs.

Continue to explain that because it’s such a universal need, it can make it easy for someone to convince you that they really care about you. Unfortunately, sometimes they might actually be trying to take advantage of you and manipulate you into doing things for them – we can sometimes feel like we ‘owe’ people things in return when they’ve done something nice for us.

Remember that just because someone is nice, it doesn't mean they are always kind. There will be some people who do 'nice' things so that they can ask for 'not nice' things in return from you. If this happens, know that it is not your fault. People should only ask reasonable things of you, not icky things. If someone asks you to do something icky, make sure you talk to a trusted adult straight away and don't feel you need to do something for someone just because they are demanding it of you, or because they have done something for you in return. It is not the same as a teacher or caregiver you know asking to clean up after yourself or help carry something for them!

Some behaviours you need to be careful about include:

People asking you to send a nude picture after they've sent you a gift or money
People asking you to visit a website that feels icky because they've liked all your posts or watched a video you're proud of making
People asking to meet up with you after they've sent you tips or items that you can use in a game
People who offer you free things in return for you doing things that might not feel too good.

Note: Young people are socialised to do things they don’t necessarily want to do by families, schools, etc., so the more examples that can be provided to differentiate grooming/sexual exploitation behaviours from everyday expectations, the easier it will be for young people to identify when they are dealing with a tricky person.

Part B: The adolescent brain

Step 1.

Ensure you review the Handling Sensitive Topics and Issues Factsheet with the class and explain that there might be some things that make you feel uncomfortable in this lesson, but it’s important to think about them. If you have completed the lesson, Feeling Fishy Online, you can revise how easy it is for people online to pretend to be someone else.

Step 2

Provide students with copies of the Student Worksheet. Explain that you understand that, by the time they are in Year 5 or 6, they’ve probably heard so many different things they should and shouldn’t do to keep themselves safe around tricky people, both online and in face-to-face activities.

Step 3

Ask students to Think Pair Share some of these safety messages they remember and record these on their Student Worksheets.

If necessary, provide some prompts such as ‘don’t tell a stranger your full name’. The intention behind this approach is to ensure your students understand that this part of the lesson is about acknowledging that they have some prior understanding of how to protect themselves from tricky situations, but this lesson is going in a slightly different direction than usual!

Step 4

Bring students back into the whole group and ask some of them to share some examples of safety messages they noted down.

Make it clear that you know they know these things already. Explain, however, that as they’re growing up, something starts to happen in their brain that makes it harder to take the messages seriously, especially when they hear them from an adult instead of a friend. Iterate that this doesn't always make it their fault when bad things happen, it just means they need to be aware and cautious when other people might try to take advantage of their biological impulses.

Step 5

Play this video, pausing at 1:18:

Brain Development in Teenagers - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dISmdb5zfiQ)

Step 6

Display the following quote from the video, which is also on the Student Worksheet:

“A potential mismatch between our emotion and our judgement arises, just as our emotional and social worlds are becoming more complex.”

Ask students to complete the Connect Extend Challenge activity on their Student Worksheet, focusing on the topic of communicating safely online. This helps students connect their new ideas with prior knowledge.

Step 7

Direct students to read the statement below this activity and ensure they understand that just because their brain might lead them to take risks, it doesn't always mean that if something bad happens to them, it's their fault:

Remember that if someone does something nasty to you, it's never your fault. Tricky people deliberately take advantage of your biological and emotional impulses and this makes them in the wrong, not you.

Part C: Knowing the signs

Step 1

Ask students to reflect on the idea that not everyone acts honestly online. Share the statistic, from the eSafety Commissioner, that in a six-month period:

44% of teens had a negative online experience, and the most identified negative experience was being contacted by a stranger or someone they didn't know (30%).

Provide a visual of this by directing approximately 44% of your class to stand up. After noticing how many this is, share that the research also found that almost everyone who experienced something negative online engaged in positive online behaviour after. One of these positive behaviours could be helping a friend know what to do if they’re experiencing tricky interactions online and what can be done by knowing some of the signs.

Step 2

Direct students to the eSafety Commissioner page ‘Things to watch out for with online friends’ (main points listed below). Ideally, this will be done after allocating the class into pairs but can be displayed to the whole class if there are limited devices.

Things to watch out for (source):

You feel that something is not right — trust your feelings.
Things don’t add up — their online profile does not match what you see and hear when you talk or chat with them.
They tell you their webcam is broken — sometimes people who want to harm you pretend to be a boy or girl your own age and say their webcam is broken so you can’t see them.
They contact you all the time and in different ways — you meet in an online game and they ask you to start texting them.
They ask you who else uses your computer or tablet — or even which room of your house you are in.
They ask you for favours and do things in return — people who want to harm you often use promises and favours to gain your trust.
They say nice things about the way you are dressed or your body — or ask things like ‘have you ever been kissed’?
They insist on meeting — they keep talking about meeting in person or try to make you feel bad if you say no.
They ask you to keep your relationship secret — people who want to harm you often try to keep their relationships private from the beginning.

After distributing student devices, you could have a QR code printed for them to scan so they can access the website quickly and easily.

Step 3

Tell students that they are going to prepare to be a helpful friend by learning about some of the warning signs of a tricky online interaction. They will then write a note (using the template on the Student Worksheet) that they can share with a friend if they are worried about something that their friend has said. Work in pairs to allow further discussion of the content. Remind students that it’s still important to let an adult know what’s going on, but that they can help by being the first step.

You might choose to provide students with these scenarios that they can choose from:

Your friend tells you they were contacted by a stranger during an online game. They said they were conducting a survey and started asking questions related to the game world. Then they started asking more personal questions, such as, "Do you wear skirts or shorts?" and "Have you ever had sex?"
Your friend tells you they're excited because they're meeting up with a gamer friend after school today before walking home. They tell you they've never met in person before, but they're super cool and shared some great loot with them over the past few weeks.
Your friend is feeling really down and hasn't been quite themselves for a few days. When you ask why in private, they admit they were convinced to send a family friend a picture of themselves without clothes on. They feel really embarrassed about what they've done and wish they could take it back.
Your friend comes to school with a really awesome gift that someone sent them. Everyone is really impressed with it. When you ask where they got it from, they quickly change the subject and their face goes red. Later, you ask again and they admit someone they've been chatting to online sent it, but they've never met.

Reflection

Have students take home the ‘helping each other’ note they wrote and read through it with their parents or caregivers. Alternatively, you could photograph the notes and send them to their parents/caregivers via Seesaw or whichever digital learning/communication system (or LMS) your school uses. This way, you can be sure that all parents/caregivers will see them.

Once they have discussed the note, students can work with their parents/caregivers to write a similar note, this time written from a parent/caregiver to their child. Parents/caregivers might like to work through some different scenarios with their kids.

Your family devices are all set up on the same accounts, so you're able to see what your kids are up to online. You check in one day and see that your child has taken a topless picture of themselves on their phone.
Your child receives a parcel in the post and there's no return address or name on it. When you ask about it, they say a gamer friend sent it to say thank you for having their back.
Your child keeps talking excitedly about a new friend they met online. You ask some questions about the friend, but they don't seem to know much. When you ask to see their profile, they're using an anonymous handle and don't have a picture up, or any personal information. It looks like they've only had their account for a few weeks.
Your child seems distressed and not quite themselves for a few days. When you ask them what's going on, they say that someone they met online is constantly sending them links to websites that they don't really like. They've also been asked some icky questions and they don't know what to do.

Parents/caregivers and students can discuss whether it would be more helpful to get a helpful letter from a trusted adult or a peer, and why. They can also discuss how this might change as they get older.

Differentiated learning

Extension

Students can research further statistics about the incidence of online grooming in Australia and the world.

Provisions for Learning Support

Students who may find the writing element of this lesson challenging could partner with a student who will more easily be able to complete the task.
Consider viewing the video several times to allow comprehension of the subject.

eSafety For Kids - Your Social Brain

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Summary

Lesson guides and printables

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