What is private information?
Learners learn to distinguish between private or personal information and general information. Through everyday situations, they consider which information should be protected and how they can respond when someone asks them to share it. In doing so, they develop a basic understanding of privacy and their right to set personal boundaries.
| Age group | 8 – 10 years |
|---|---|
| Duration | approx. 50 – 100 minutes |
| Learning goals & outcomes | Learners learn to distinguish between private or personal information and general information. |
| Methods | Exemplary learning |
| Source / Author | Lorenz Prager, Digital Citizenship Education: Grundlagen und Lehr-Lern-Settings zur digitalen Mündigkeit (Vienna, 2025), available at: https://www.politik-lernen.at/DigitaleMuendigkeit. |
| Values | Learners understand that privacy allows individuals to control who has access to their personal information. They practise setting boundaries and making autonomous decisions about what they share and with whom. |
Didactic notes
This teaching and learning setting focuses on protecting privacy and aims to introduce learners to the concept of privacy in both the analogue and digital world. As an example of concept-based learning, it provides a foundation that can be developed and differentiated in later lessons. It also demonstrates that citizenship education and Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) can be introduced at primary level, even though this lesson adopts a holistic perspective in which the digital world is not the sole focus.
Material & Downloads
Working sheet M1
Introduction – Private and general information
Using the information box on the worksheet, explain the difference between private and non-private (general) information.
Pair work – Private or not?
Working in pairs, learners decide whether they consider each item in the table in A1 to be private and tick the appropriate box. Once they have finished, compare the results with the whole class and clarify any questions.
Discussing example situations
Ask learners to complete A2 individually. For each situation, they first decide whether the information being requested is private and tick the answer they consider correct. They then write down how they would respond in that situation. Afterwards, compare the answers with the whole class. Ask learners to explain their choices in order to highlight the importance of the situational context.
Variation
Depending on the time available, A2 can also be completed as a role play.
In pairs, learners are assigned one of the situations and act it out after a short preparation period. The class can then ask why they responded in that particular way.
Lesson material
The lesson materials are provided in a simple Word format so that teachers can adapt and modify them.