Addressing Ethics With Young Students
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Rebecca Pruneda 8/25/2022 EDLD 5306 cohort 14 Page 1 Introducing Ethics The issue of cyber-ethics is being discussed quite frequently in our district. Many want to know at what point we introduce cyber-ethics and begin to teach these concepts to our students. Will the subject be appropriate for younger students, and what needs to be addressed when considering ethics in the digital world? Any child who is participating in on-line activities needs to be introduced to ethics in cyber-space. Kruger (2003, p. 188) suggests “that it is never too early to introduce the topic of cyber-ethics.” Elementary children “are learning to evaluate the consequences of their actions and understand abstract concepts.” (p. 188) There are a variety of activities and resources available to help introduce cyber-ethics to kids. The Justice Department has a website that addresses cyber- ethics for kids. From this they have a link to “Rules in Cyberspace” that provides a fairly detailed list that is appropriate for most students.
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Transcript of Addressing Ethics With Young Students
Rebecca Pruneda 4/10/2023EDLD 5306 cohort 14 Page 1
Introducing Ethics
The issue of cyber-ethics is being discussed quite frequently in our district. Many
want to know at what point we introduce cyber-ethics and begin to teach these concepts
to our students. Will the subject be appropriate for younger students, and what needs to
be addressed when considering ethics in the digital world?
Any child who is participating in on-line activities needs to be introduced to ethics in
cyber-space. Kruger (2003, p. 188) suggests “that it is never too early to introduce the
topic of cyber-ethics.” Elementary children “are learning to evaluate the consequences of
their actions and understand abstract concepts.” (p. 188) There are a variety of activities
and resources available to help introduce cyber-ethics to kids. The Justice Department
has a website that addresses cyber- ethics for kids. From this they have a link to “Rules in
Cyberspace” that provides a fairly detailed list that is appropriate for most students.
usdoj/crm/itm/mdc. (2002) Addressing ethics at a young age makes the information part
of their knowledge base.
Knowing what to address is a question that is often asked. Teachers understand that
citing sources and giving credit where it is due is important. Plagiarism is stealing. This is
a concept that is important in any academic field. What also needs to be addressed is that
even though you give credit to the person who created it, it may still be stealing under
copyright law. Just because you give credit does not mean that you have the right to use
that material. This is a harder concept to teach. Some other topics in this area include
software piracy, file- sharing, and the software for file-sharing. Kruger (2003, p. 189)
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also pushing for cyber-ethics education.
They are using a large amount of resources trying to address cybercrimes. A large part of
the problem is that “many teens still consider computer mischief harmless. A recent
survey found that 48 percent of students in elementary and middle school don’t consider
hacking illegal.” Hooper (2010, p. 1) this article addresses issues such as hacking, and
vandalism. They want students to be able to identify cyber-crimes. Right now many do
not consider what they are doing to be illegal. It is hard to fight a crime wave when the
perpetrators do not consider that they are doing anything wrong. Chmura, a science
teacher, was quoted in the article after trying to explain how stealing from a computer
was the same as stealing from someone’s home. She said:
“It’s always interesting that they don’t see a connection between the two,” Chmura
said. “They just don’t get it.” Hooper (2010, p. 1)
Niederhause, Lindstrom, & Strobel (2007, p.492) conducted a study on how NETS*S
was being applied in the classroom. They found that there were very few instances were
teachers were instructing in ethical and responsible usage. This is an area that needs to be
addressed much more thoroughly in our classrooms. Our students need to be aware of
what is involved in ethical behavior in cyberspace, and they need to be introduced to this
topic at an early age. The FBI feels that “One of the most important ways of reducing
crime is trying to teach ethics and morality to our kids. That same principle needs to
apply to the cyber world.” Hooper (2010, p. 1)
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References
Department of Justice. (2002).Cyber Ethics for Kids: the Internet, Know Before You Go
into Cyberspace. Retrieved from:
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/rules/kidinternet.htm
Department of Justice. (2002). Rules in Cyberspace. Retrieved from:
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/rules/rules.htm
Hooper, D. Ian. (2010). FBI Pushes for Cyber Ethics Education. ABC News/
Technology. Washington. Retrieved from:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=119369&page=1
Kruger, Robert. (2003). Discussing cyber ethics with students is critical. The Social
Studies.
Niederhauser, Dale S., Lindstrom, Denise L., & Strobel, Johannes. (2007).Evidence of
the NETS*S in k-12 classrooms: implications for teacher education. Journal of
technology and teacher education 15 (4). Research Library
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