In the United States, people have long had a tendency to see the immediate, personal benefits of new technologies as contributing to human progress well before understanding their long-term social consequences. Facebook offers an instructive (and destructive) example. Facebook has failed to build infrastructural safeguards or accept the ethical…

Educators have been increasingly sensitized to the role of schools in developing students' cyberethics, cybercitizenship, and cybersafety, which have emerged as one of the most pressing and yet unexplored areas of education. The Department of Defense has identified challenges to cybersecurity infrastructure as a significant risk for the…

Each week, U.S. government classes at the authors' school eagerly organize and participate in moot courts. When they began a search for a Supreme Court case study on substantive due process, they found that the only appropriate brief on the StreetLaw website--a treasure trove of student-accessible court case summaries--"Lawrence v.…

What would Benjamin Franklin's Facebook page look like? Would he be "friends" with William Pierce, James Madison, or Alexander Hamilton? Would there have been a separate Facebook group for the framers of the Constitution, where they would have posted comments on the wall regarding the different stipulations that needed inclusion in the…

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the people of the United States from unreasonable searches and seizures. On first reading, these protections seem clearly defined. The amendment was meant to protect Americans from the kinds of random searches and seizures that the colonists experienced under British colonial rule. Under…

Discusses assumptions underlying human need for privacy. Provides case studies and teaching strategies related to privacy, constitutional principles, legal cases, and decision making. Strategies include role playing, class discussion, writing, and art projects. (KC)

Discusses ways in which children can be harmed by information collected and analyzed by schools and identifies ways in which the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has enabled parents to participate in the education of their children. (Author/DB)

Discusses data collection ability of modern technological societies and evaluates the extent to which this ability constitutes an invasion of privacy and freedom. Maintains that social studies teachers have a special responsibility to help students understand pressing social problems such as invasions of indivudual freedom. (Author/DB)

Presents a parent's perspective that educational research projects in the public schools are potentially dangerous to children because of the risks of invasion of privacy, overtesting, labeling, and disruption of routine. (AV)

Asserts that the rational use and management of conflict resulting from the clash of ideas is a sine qua non for social studies teachers. Argues that competent social studies teachers must stop short of violating the personal privacy of students even if the purpose is noble. (JDH)

Four basic themes regarding the micro-technical revolution which have direct implications for social studies teachers are access to technology, control of information generated by technology, social responsibility that the use of technology implies, and cultural implications. (RM)

Explores the issue of privacy focusing on informational privacy and how it could be jeopardized by new technologies. Provides contexts of privacy and discusses privacy and celebrity in U.S. culture, privacy abuses, and privacy as a common value. Includes teaching activities by Michelle Parrini and Jennifer Kittlaus. (CMK)

Internet users continue to develop new ways of communicating online and disseminating information; one of these methods, the blog, also known as web log, has become a significant cultural phenomenon. Blogs offer an interactive medium for internet users to create and contribute content to the web. In some social studies classrooms, teachers are…

Children's (ages 8-12) interactive social responses to computers were examined. Results showed that students had not considered the social implications of using another's data. When infringements of their rights to privacy took place, students demanded penalties. Students showed preference for group problem-solving strategies. (RM)