Teaching children about Internet safety: An evaluation of the effectiveness of an interactive computer game

Abstract

The effectiveness of an interactive computer game designed to alert children to dangers on the Internet and to encourage them to develop their own guidelines for Internet safety is assessed. Pre- and post-test data were collected from a treatment (n = 181) and comparison group (n = 157) of Grade 6 and 7 students from 8 elementary schools in and around a large Western Canadian city. Reported frequencies of risky online behaviours, Internet safety-related attitudes, and number of Internet safety guidelines were measured in a questionnaire format. Initial frequencies of risky online behaviours and attitudes were quite low, making it difficult to demonstrate change due to playing the computer game. Subjects who had played the game, however, wrote more Internet safety guidelines than did those who had not. These positive results for the safety guidelines provide promising initial evidence that this computer game can be used effectively as part of an Internet safety program in schools. Methodological limitations are discussed to provide direction for future research in this area.