Webonauts Internet Academy is a web original game for PBS KIDS GO! that gives kids 8- to 10-year-old an opportunity to have some fun while exploring what it means to be a citizen in a web-infused‚ information-rich world. It is an engaging experience on its own but becomes all the more powerful when parents and teachers use game play as a springboard for conversations about media literacy and citizenship in the 21st Century.
As new recruits to the Webonauts Internet Academy‚ on a satellite space station‚ players are sent on a training mission on planet Bambu. While there‚ they encounter a mysterious enemy‚ The Great Static‚ who is set on stealing the Bamdudes’ cookie recipe (they are the best cookie makers in the Universe). During the course of the game‚ players receive on-the-job training and help the Bamdudes and save their cookie recipe!
In taking on the role of a Webonaut and completing a series of missions‚ players confront issues central to good citizenship: identity‚ privacy‚ credibility and web safety. Game scenarios take place in both online and offline encounters because good citizenship spans both.
To help players get the most out of Webonauts Internet Academy‚ knowing some key terms will come in handy.
- Citizenship: membership in a community
- Contribute: to give to a common cause; to participate
- Credibility: the quality of being believable or trustworthy
- Cyberbullying: online abusive behavior
- Information literacy: knowing how to think critically about resources‚ such as what makes a website reliable
- Motto: a short saying that expresses a rule to live by
- Observe: to watch carefully; to follow a rule
- Private: belonging to a particular person
- Profile: information a person shares about him or herself with others in a social network
- Public: available to all people within a broad community
- Respect: to value‚ admire and treat well
- Rumor: unverified talk or opinion that is easily spread to others