Why Educators Should Teach Safe Online Shopping
by Chris Gustafson
You've assigned research on the Chinese Exclusion Act, but your students' computer screens are showing eBay, dELiAs, or any site that sells shoes.
If your students are off task when they're online, chances are they're shopping. So don't fight it. Integrate shopping sites into your curriculum while teaching your students to be safe and savvy online shoppers.
Why Teach Online Shopping?
When you capitalize on student interest in shopping sites, you can create engaging content lessons while teaching important life skills. Here are a few ideas:
- Math is basic to Internet shopping. Have your students compare online prices to newspaper ads for brick-and-mortar stores. Make sure they include shipping costs and sales tax for online items.
- Production, Distribution, and Consumption make up one of the 10 thematic strands of the National Social Studies Standards. Students can develop a survey about changes in the way goods have been distributed in the last 50 years, and gather data, comparing the results between age bands.
- Target online shopping when you teach Media Literacy in your Language Arts class. Your class can create an online ad campaign to help consumers distinguish between reputable and dangerous shopping sites.
- How do online shopping sites influence consumers to place an order? Writing classes can evaluate and compare persuasion techniques across several sites selling the same products.
- What's the environmental impact of online shopping compared to driving to a mall to make a purchase? Teams of science students can create a table and collect data to measure each option.
Teach Safe Online Shopping
While you're integrating online shopping into your curriculum, include these tips for safe online shopping:
- Make sure students know that https sites or the unbroken lock symbol represent secure places to shop.
- Remind students that shopping from a wireless network leaves their personal information open to anyone within range of that network, which could include people out in the street or in the house next door.
- Encourage students to know their family policies regarding online shopping; parents may want to approve purchases and enter credit or debit information.
- Teach the pros and cons of consumer rating sites that evaluate products, services, or businesses.
For more information about safe online shopping, see "How to Shop Safely Online".
