In today’s society, students need to have a wide variety of Internet skills. In both the 7th and 8th grade computer classes, the following skills are taught:
Searching – using Boolean logic
Web site evaluation
Copyright
Internet safety
Netiquette
Ethics

When preparing students to use search engines we must teach them essential searching skills in order to make their searches more effective. In using a search engine, students must be aware of how the information will be presented and what they will encounter in order to find relevant information. Students should be familiar with computer and Internet terms as well as search features and different types of searches.

Once students have searched and found sites, they must be able to effectively evaluate those sites. Evaluating Internet resources is not that different from evaluating other kinds of resources. Many of the questions about such things as authority, bias and relevancy are equally important. Students should be able to form a reasonable judgment about a site before using that site for research.

Internet skills are necessary for today’s students; however the Internet has various threats and dangers of which students need to be aware. Some of those dangers are predators, cyber bullies, identity thieves, hackers, and phishing attacks. Students need to be taught that rules and codes of acceptable behavior must be set and followed in the virtual world, just as they are in the real world.