How elementary schools can harness The Social Institute’s Social Standards to build character and empower responsible tech use
42% of students have a phone by age 10, and devices like tablets and PlayStations are more popular than ever with young students. Students of all ages are flocking to Minecraft and YouTube, and it’s impacting relationships, learning, and more.
In this article, we’re breaking down The Social Institute’s Seven Social Standards and why they’re just as important for our elementary students, who may not be on social media, and how you can teach these standards in the classroom.
- Cyberback: Having each others’ backs and supporting each other online.
- Strike a Balance: Balancing our time and attention on tech with the people around us.
- Use Your Mic for Good: Using social media as a microphone to create meaningful change.
- Play to Your Core: Reflecting our values, character, and interests in our actions online.
- Find your Influencers: Surrounding ourselves with positive and credible influences.
- Handle the Pressure: Finding your own path no matter the pressure from others.
- Protect Your Privacy: Staying in control of our personal information.
Let’s dive in!
Cyberback: Having each others’ backs and supporting each other online.
When you think of cyberbacking, think of the opposite of cyberbullying. Cyberbacking is backing up others with encouragement and support online, in the face of cyberbullying or just to be kind. For young students, this could look like sending kind messages in a gaming chat room or reporting a hurtful comment on YouTube or to a trusted adult. By encouraging students to cyberback, you’re equipping them with the skills to combat negativity with positivity.
While most elementary school students aren’t using social media, many still have access to devices and websites where they may encounter cyberbullying or hurtful comments. As of 2024, 45.5% of middle and high school students reported being cyberbullied at least once in their lifetime.
By addressing how to combat negativity through cyberbacking or spreading support for others offline, these young students will be equipped with the skills to address cyberbullying as they begin to join social media. The goal is to equip younger students with the tools needed to navigate these situations; if a student happens to encounter cyberbullying, they’ll have the tools to know exactly who to go to and what to do to stop it.
To start huddling with your students on how to cyberback, here are a couple of discussion questions you can ask your students:
- What are some acts of kindness that make you feel best? Examples of this could be receiving a compliment from a peer, being congratulated on your work, or a classmate asking if you need help when you get hurt.
- If you see someone you know being treated unkindly, what would you do to solve it? Examples of this could be showing kindness to a student who was treated unfairly, reaching out to a trusted adult, or telling the person who shared the hurtful words or actions to stop.
To further huddle with your students on spreading kindness and empowering them to cyberback, check out our 4th-grade #WinAtSocial lesson on the Great Kindness Challenge.
Strike a Balance: Balancing our time and attention on tech with the people around us.
Empowering students to strike a balance means equipping them to balance time online with the time they spend with others in person or completing important tasks. For elementary school students, effectively striking a balance could be completing homework before using devices for fun, or hanging out with friends outside instead of watching videos online. Ultimately, this standard is all about equipping students with time management skills that will help them on a short and long-term basis.
As of 2023, 65% of 4th graders use YouTube each week while 51% use FaceTime. Using apps like YouTube and FaceTime can be great ways for students to have fun and connect with others, but only if it doesn’t serve as a distraction from more important activities. While the key to keeping devices from being a distraction may seem to restrict them altogether, it will keep students from harnessing the benefits technology offers, like connecting with a long-distance friend.
To empower your students to strike a balance, check out these tips:
- Create a Classroom Tech Policy with your students to practice striking a balance with them and foster a positive and engaging learning environment.
- Huddle with your students on the importance of striking a balance with tech in class and at home. The Dorito Theory is a great example for young students of why it’s important to balance screen time effectively.
To further huddle with your students on striking a balance with technology, check out our 3rd-grade #WinAtSocial Lesson: Dealing with screens during the day: What do you do?
Use Your Mic for Good: Using social media as a microphone to create meaningful change.
When students use their mic for good, they are using their voice to spread awareness on certain topics, promote positivity, and encourage others to act in high-character ways. Young students can do this by sharing an important cause in their group chats with friends, or even sharing positive stories they see online with their classmates. In one great example, a group of 4th graders teamed up at their school to create their own recycling program!
By empowering students to use their mic for good, we are teaching them that their voice has the power to create positive change. Whether it’s online or offline, young students have an audience that will listen to them. One student using their mic for good can even create a chain reaction that encourages their fellow students to do the same. Ultimately, by equipping students with the skills to use their mics for good, we’re teaching them the power of speaking up, whether it be to advocate for a cause, another student, or themselves.
To start huddling with your students on using their mic for good, here are a couple of discussion questions you can ask your students:
- Helping others at our school or in our community can be fun and rewarding. What is one way you would give your time and energy towards helping others? Examples of this could be volunteering at a local pet shelter or buddy reading.
- Let’s say you, or a group you are part of, are raising money for a cause. What steps would you take to spread the word? An example of this could be first identifying what you want to say, then talking to those you know and encouraging them to tell others.
To further huddle with your students on how they can use their mic for good, online and offline, check out our 5th-grade #WinAtSocial Lesson: Tapping into our interests to volunteer and make a difference.
Play to Your Core: Reflecting our values, character, and interests in our actions online.
Playing to your core is all about making sure your actions, online and offline, reflect your values, character, and interests. It’s sharing the things that make you proud, and that you wouldn’t mind being made public. For young students, this could be talking with other students about a video game they like, or avoiding content online they don’t think is appropriate.
Teaching students to play to their core focuses on empowering positive decision-making. It’s important that students’ actions reflect their values, character, and interests so that they can build a positive reputation and stay safe online. When students build a positive reputation, they are seen as more trustworthy by others and are less likely to behave in unethical ways, such as watching an inappropriate video. Ultimately, equipping students with the skills to play to their core can help them make responsible decisions, online and offline, which can strengthen their reputation.
To start huddling with your students on playing to their core, building a positive reputation, and staying safe online, here are a couple of discussion questions you can ask your students:
- It’s after school on Friday, and you’re at home, scrolling through YouTube. You see a suggested video pop up, but the thumbnail seems inappropriate. You’re not sure if you should watch it. What do you do? Examples of this could be asking a trusted adult about the video or skipping the video and choosing something else to watch.
- Your reputation is the way people see you and think about you. And it’s important to have a good reputation because it can help you be healthy, happy, and successful. Think about someone in your life who has a good reputation. Who comes to mind? Examples of this could be a grown-up in the student’s life, a celebrity the student looks up to, or an older peer who is a positive influence.
To huddle more with your student on playing to their core, check out our 4th-grade #WinAtSocial Lesson on the magic of a positive reputation.
Find your Influencers: Surrounding ourselves with positive and credible influences.
For young students, finding your influencers means identifying and surrounding yourself with positive role models who support you and encourage you to play to your core. In this case, influencers don’t just mean popular social media figures like Selena Gomez. It means anyone who serves as a positive influence for students. This could be an educator a young student admires or a student’s family member.
It is important for students to find their influencers because students can’t be what they can’t see. When students, especially elementary students, find influences that model responsible and positive behavior, students will be more likely to act similarly. On the flip side, negative role models can influence students to act in ways that might not align with their core values, highlighting the importance of positive influences.
To start huddling with your student on finding positive influences, here are a couple of discussion questions:
- Think of someone you look up to, what are some qualities in that role model that you admire? Examples of this could be that they’re kind, forgiving, or confident.
- Have you ever had an experience where a grown-up helped you achieve something important? What was it, and how did they help? Examples of this could be a parent helping a student with their homework, or an educator helping a student explore career interests.
To huddle more with your student on finding their influencers, check out our 5th-grade #WinAtSocial Lesson: Teaming up with the grown-ups you admire to accomplish your goals.
Handle the Pressure: Finding your own path no matter the pressure from others.
Handling the pressure is all about staying in control of our emotions even when it’s tough, understanding how our bodies react to stress, and building habits that promote performance under pressure. For young students, this could mean reacting calmly toward a friend they may disagree with about a topic or creating a routine to de-stress before a test. Knowing how to handle the pressure will help students put their best foot forward, online and offline.
In school and life, there will be times when we grow frustrated with others or stressed from social situations, and it’s important that we can manage our emotions and overcome the pressure. Something as simple as collaboration can create strong emotions, positive or negative, at any age. According to an American Psychological Association study, when students are empowered to handle the pressure, they might even see their grades improve. From childhood to adulthood, handling the pressure is essential for success.
To empower your students to handle the pressure, online and offline, share these tips with them:
- When working in a group, spend time brainstorming ideas that will make everyone happy, that way, everyone will work better together.
- If you find yourself stressed when playing a game with others online, take a step back and decompress. Video games are meant to be fun, not stressful.
- Identify things that help you relax and utilize them when you’re stressed. This could be listening to music, going outside, or watching one of your favorite videos on YouTube.
To huddle more with your student on handling the pressure, especially when working in groups, check out our 3rd-grade #WinAtSocial Lesson: Conquering group projects like a champ: What do you do?
Protect Your Privacy: Staying in control of our personal information.
Protecting your privacy is all about safeguarding your personal information, such as location, email address, and passwords. Equipping students with skills to protect their privacy will help them stay safe online as they get older.
Staying in control of personal information is essential for navigating online scams, such as cyber kidnapping or influencer scams. Losing control of private information can be incredibly stressful for students and potentially difficult to fix.
To start huddling with your students on protecting their privacy, here are a couple of discussion questions you can ask your students:
- Your friend notices their family members have been posting photos of them to social media without asking for permission. How might your friend feel? Examples could be embarrassed, uncomfortable, or upset.
- Imagine you’re with your friends and one of them records a video of you doing something funny. They then say they might show it to everyone at school, and that makes you feel uncomfortable. What do you do? Examples could be to ask them to delete the video or to be honest with them about how this made you feel.
To huddle more with your students on protecting their privacy, check out our 5th-grade #WinAtSocial Lesson: Staying in control of what our family and friends share about us.
By empowering your elementary school students to follow these standards, you’ll proactively equip them with the skills to navigate social media and tech in high-character ways.
Interested in getting lessons that promote these social standards in your school? Request a demo for #WinAtSocial to fuel your students’ health, happiness, and future success.
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The Social Institute (TSI) is the leader in empowering students by understanding students. Through #WinAtSocial, our gamified, peer-to-peer learning platform, we equip students, educators, and families to navigate their social world – in the classroom and beyond, online and offline – in healthy, high-character ways. Our unique, student-respected approach empowers and equips, rather than scares and restricts. We incorporate timely topics about social media, tech use, and current events that are impacting student well-being and learning. #WinAtSocial Lessons teach life skills for the modern day, capture student voice, and provide school leaders with actionable insights. Through these insights, students play an essential role in school efforts to support their own health, happiness, and future success as we enable high-impact teaching, meaningful family conversations, and a healthy school culture.