What: The site is jigsaw.google.com/. Tagline: “A safer internet means a safer world”. This is a site that explores research-based tools that Google and partners are building to combat some of the most serious threats to an open and safe internet: Disinformation, Toxicity, Censorship, and Violent Extremism.
It identifies internet tools and apps being built based on research on the issues listed above. The more powerful part for educators is the “The Current” section: a series of interactive digital magazine issues that help citizens explore the Problem, Countermeasures, and New Perspectives. Some issues also include data visualization and case studies.
Audience: This site offers visually engaging current content to discuss and frame recent and current world news events that most readers will be familiar with. The concepts and reading level are geared toward students in junior high and higher. I would definitely use this in my high school and college courses alike.
It is also useful for general citizens who are discouraged by the toxic place that the internet has generally become. This site offers interesting countermeasures for the negativity that one encounters on the internet.
Time to Explore: You will want 10 to 15 minutes to do at least a cursory exploration into an issue of The Current.
If I was still teaching high school Social Studies, I would have students investigate the”Disinformation” issue alongside the next national election.
Bonus: A project that resulted from Jigsaw research is this great digital safety quiz: https://phishingquiz.withgoogle.com/. Users sign in with a fake email and then are given 8 emails to identify as “phishing” or “legitimate”. After each guess, info panels are provided to alert players to the intricacies of phishing scams.
Equipment: This site is best used on the internet.
Click here for the Google A-Z Table of Contents Launch Pad.
What I learned today... 