Critical Thinking
Digital Citizenship Week | PUSD
K-2
Young children are naturally curious about what's real and what's pretend, and distinguishing between the two is an important skill for navigating media. These lessons teach students the difference between fact and fiction, how to understand advertisements, and how to keep our online accounts safe. Help your students develop early critical thinking skills for their media experiences.
- Kindergarten: Fact or Fiction?
- Video: Meet the Digital Citizen - Head
- Lesson Slides
- Lesson Handouts
- 1st grade: Understanding Ads
- 2nd grade: Keeping Online Accounts Safe
3-5
From flashy ads to viral social media posts, students encounter content every day that's designed to influence their thoughts and decisions. These lesson helps students develop critical-thinking skills to see beyond persuasive techniques, altered videos, and questionable claims. By exploring real-world examples and practicing key questioning techniques, students will become more informed digital citizens who can see below the surface of the content they encounter.
In these lessons, students learn to navigate the online world responsibly and thoughtfully by exploring how digital content is created, shared, and consumed. They’ll gain an understanding of fair use and ethical content creation, examine how filter bubbles and confirmation bias shape their perspectives, and practice “critical ignoring” to manage the overwhelming flow of online information—helping them become more discerning, balanced, and responsible digital citizens.
- 6th grade: Is It Fair Use? AI Edition
- 7th grade: Bursting the Filter Bubble
- 8th grade: What is Critical Ignoring?
Just like people, artificial intelligence tools can make mistakes. That could mean simply mistaking tomatoes for apples. But the impacts of AI bias can often be much more serious. AI tools can end up recirculating harmful stereotypes and inequities within society. In this lesson, students will think critically about AI bias and how it affects the world.
More lessons to explore!
Share Your #DigCitWeek Wins!
Share your wins with EdTech for a chance to win class prizes! Email your pictures and stories to edtech@pusd.us.
You can also follow Common Sense Media's Instagram account for educators, and share how your students are learning about digital literacy and citizenship. Have your phone handy? Use the QR code to go directly to our Instagram account. Be sure to tag Common Sense Media in your post (@commonsenseedu) and use the hashtag #DigCitWeek!