A new game-based curriculum aims to raise young people's awareness of their time online. The scheme was developed by the Norwegian Media Authority in cooperation with Nasjonal digital læringsarena (NDLA).
Curriculum "Hekta?" is intended for high school students.
– Digital media is a central part of everyday life children and adolescents, both at home, at school and in your free time. Knowing technology and how it stimulates the brain, meets social needs and creates commercial impact is important for taking control of your use of time and managing your daily media life, says Mari Velsand, director of the Norwegian Media Authority.
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Three out of ten children and young people want to log out more often
90 percent of Norwegians aged 9–18 use one or more social media, according to the Norwegian Media Authority 2022 study. Children and Media 2022. Three in ten say they would like to log off more often, while seven in ten ten feel they receive too much advertising through these services.
“We want the new curriculum to enable young people to better see the links between market mechanisms and their own media use,” says Mari Velsand.
The target group contributed to the creation of the game
"Hecta?" facilitates learning based on escape room games. Here, players must solve a series of problems together to get out of "locked" rooms. Pupils have to get used to everyday life typical for Norwegian youth and encounter four representative rooms technologies , brain , social life i money. Then, in groups, they will solve various practical tasks using the four perspectives they have learned in the classrooms.
The target group itself was involved in the development of the curriculum, both through surveys and user testing in schools.
“The game challenges and activates students in a way they both know and appreciate. It increases engagement and a sense of mastery in a topic that could otherwise quickly become very dry and theoretical, says Rune Valle, lecturer and teacher of media and communication curricula at Hvam High School in the municipality of Nes, where the program was tested.
Creative, motivating and fun teaching
Hvam High School XNUMXrd year students from Media and Communication describe the curriculum as creative, motivating and fun.
- "Escape room" is great fun. It provides a different kind of engagement than a regular lesson. I've noticed that working in a completely different way gives me more energy to actually absorb the material we're dealing with, says student Silje Abrahamsrud.
The goal is a better critical understanding of the media
Curriculum "Hekta?" was developed in accordance with the new core curriculum, with particular emphasis on the interdisciplinary topics of democracy and citizenship. The program also includes several target competences in social studies and can be used in media subjects in upper secondary education. The aim is to increase students' critical understanding of the media.
– The topics that are taken up and discussed are important in a broad perspective. The program is designed to be customizable and used in many different subjects. It is available at both middle and high school levels, says director Mari Velsand of the Norwegian Media Authority.
See Hekt's Curriculum? Chamber of codes about your digital daily life here
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Source: Norwegian Media Authority
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