Educating our students in the conscious use of the internet allows us to achieve multiple objectives, in line with those required by the new law for civic education, which include sustainable development, environmental protection and enhancement of the territory, the promotion of health, attention to common goods and ways of living that are inclusive and respectful of people’s fundamental rights. To do this, however, it is necessary to know how to integrate the two areas of life (online and offline), especially in a historical moment where the opportunities for socialization and “live” participation have been reduced, leading to a greater risk of experiencing negative feelings such as loneliness and lower life satisfaction.
In fact, the current society is characterized by the spread of media and technologies that determine:
- unlimited access and immense availability of information;
- rapid and unstoppable evolution of digital tools;
- exponential and indiscriminate increase in use;
- constant and increasing hyperactivity and collaboration between subjects.
In fact, technologies do not consist fundamentally in a tool for the transmission of concepts and theories, but real mediators and co-builders of knowledge.
Only through ethical and responsible use is it possible to build the citizen of the future by enhancing his aptitudes, his personal learning style, and his motivation to achieve the indispensable skills.
On February 9, 2021, Safer Internet Day was remembered: Learning safe online “Together for a better Internet”. There were first three short speeches and then a debate between the participants. About 50 were present online, including teachers, students, parents, representatives of Associations and Scientix ambassadors.
Prof. Amalia Benevento teacher secondary level II and president of Unicef AV Let’s not lose sight of – the educational proposal of UNICEF: Children and adolescents have increased the time they spend online, very often at the expense of the offline world. The so-called “digital world”, on the one hand, offers opportunities and services capable of allowing the continuity of the activities of this target even at a distance (think for example of distance learning or socialization via chat and online games with peers) on the other hand, it also involves the need to translate the typical rights and duties of “responsible citizens” to online contexts, in what has been studied in the literature under the name of “digital citizenship”. The digital citizen, as pointed out by numerous authors, proves to be able to participate in civil society by promoting its growth and protecting the well-being of other users, thus proving to be an active citizen. Prof. Benevento presents her initiative
Prof. Teresita Gravina teacher sc. I degree secondary and Scientix and Europeana Ambassador “Surf & Teach Safe with Europeana and Scientix”. STEM education is recognized by public and educational authorities as a real priority for Europe. In all educational-training contexts, therefore, in an attempt to make the approach to study and careers related to scientific disciplines more interesting and captivating, we speak of integrated STE (A) M. The letter A refers to Art in all its expressive forms while for Integrated the tendency to combine the same scientific disciplines (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) with a non-scientific one within a learning unit or a single lesson.
How to access Scientix and Europeana as two excellent resources where everyone can “navigate” in extreme safety”. http://www.scientix.eu/ – http://www.scientix.eu/resources – https://www.europeana.eu/it
The teacher. Rossana Rosapepe teacher sc. secondary level II and President of ANISN Campania “ANISN – not only term papers”. In addition to illustrating the ANISN website, http://www.anisn.it/nuovosito/sedi-della-campania/, it presents a laboratory for students preparing for the final exams. Within the activities, a survey is conducted to find out about the information skills of the nineteen-year-olds. It turns out a large part of students have the propensity and the will to research and deepen. Unfortunately, these students do not know how to use the complexity of research tools in order to choose the best materials to select: an essay, a law in force, a scientific article, etc. The Internet is seen by students as a set of free, easy-to-access documents. However, for the web to be a tool for personal and civic growth, it must be understood that document research represents a real learning process with which it will be possible to get out of the road of “documentary and information inequality”.
The workshop teaches you how to:
- conduct documentary research and courses for maturity
- analyze the topics
- define the focal points
- find the most relevant and useful documents
Finally, from the open debate between students, teachers, parents, it emerges that schools, universities, and all educational-training contexts, in order to encourage the use of materials and make available content, data, communications, and cultural contaminations, must contribute to defining rules, languages, behaviors, allowing the individual to recognize himself responsibly and ethically in a group, in a cultural system, in a community. Therefore, innovative teaching based on the implementation of actions with digital devices that are constantly monitored is justified.