$400,000 aimed for middle school program targeting Internet safety

SANTA ANA – On one computer at Gerald P. Carr Intermediate in Santa Ana, eighth-grader Bobby Hernandez worked on a simulation dealing with how a child predator tries to convince a teen to travel to Canada for a meeting.

At the next computer station, eighth-grader Kimberly Torres and seventh-grader Danyal Aguilar followed another simulation where a teenage girl is tricked into sending photos of herself to a predator pretending he’s a modeling agent.

“This really shows how many bad people there are out there trying to get to kids,” Hernandez said. “You really have to be careful when you’re on the Internet, or else you don’t know who you’ll find.”

The students were demonstrating Friday a computer program aimed at teaching adolescents about the dangers of navigating through the Internet.
The demonstration was part of a news conference announcing a $400,000 federal grant to create the countywide Youth Internet Safety Education Project. The funding will help train teachers and other educators at each of the county’s 86 public middle schools how to implement the Web-based computer program in an effort to keep children safe while on the computer both at school and at home.

About 87,000 middle school students each year will participate in the program, officials said.

“Ninety-three percent of our children ages 12 to 17 are now online; some for up to seven hours a day,” said Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana. Sanchez along with Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, were credited with securing the federal grant.

“What we’re doing today is ensuring teachers have the help they need to police what’s happening on the Internet,” she said. “The Internet is opening the world up to our children. But the bad guys are out there too.”
Santa Ana-based Web Wise Kids, creator of the online computer program, will partner with the Orange County Department of Education to train teachers and supply learning materials to students.

Students learn primarily through role-playing online games. Students follow simulations from everything dealing with how sexual predators can use social networking sites to lure children, to the dangers of “sexting,” the practice of adolescents sending inappropriate photos of themselves to friends or strangers via cell phone cameras.
The ultimate goal is for Orange County students to will learn about becoming responsible digital citizens and avoiding dangerous, inappropriate, or unlawful online behavior.
“The future of education will be based in technology,” said county Superintendent William Habermehl. “Our parents want us to teach our children about the safety of this technology at the same time we’re teaching them how to use it.”
Classmates Torres, Aguilar and Hernandez said they’ve each already learned helpful tips for safely surfing the Web.

“You should never talk to any strangers online,” said Torres, 13, who now wants to wait a couple more years before she creates her first Facebook account. “I think I’d rather just spend my free time reading a good book for now.”

Leal, By Fermin. “$400,000 Aimed for Middle School Program Targeting Internet Safety | Students, Internet, Computer – News – The Orange County Register.” The Orange County Register : The Orange County Register. Web. 20 Sept. 2010.