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Year 5

The power of data

I can describe how powerful shared data is in the online world.

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New
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Year 5

The power of data

I can describe how powerful shared data is in the online world.

Download all resources
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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Online data is worth a huge amount of money.
  2. Social media companies use data to advertise things to us.
  3. Our personal data is used to guess things about us.
  4. Social media companies can often do what they like with our information.
  5. We have some control over how our personal information is shared, used and stored.

Keywords

  • Data - detailed information stored online

  • Personal data - detailed information about us stored online

  • Advertise - persuade someone to buy something

Common misconception

Most things on the internet are free.

Although we often do not need to pay money for online services, that doesn't mean that they come at no cost. We often pay with our attention (as consumers and viewers of adverts) and our personal information, which is shared widely.

Explain how data could be shared without a person's knowledge. For example, a targeted advert, junk email or a social media post that is shared without consent.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these are examples of private information?
Correct answer: full name
picture of a drawing you've made
Correct answer: picture of your house
Correct answer: the school you go to
hobbies
Q2.
Match the words to the definition.
Correct Answer:post,to put something online, such as a video, image or text
tick

to put something online, such as a video, image or text

Correct Answer:consequence,the result of our actions
tick

the result of our actions

Correct Answer:manipulation,influencing someone's emotions to make them do something
tick

influencing someone's emotions to make them do something

Correct Answer:tactic,the method to achieve something
tick

the method to achieve something

Q3.
Which of these statements are true?
Correct answer: We should not share our passwords with anyone, including our friends.
We should give our friends any information they ask for.
Correct answer: We should not use the same password for multiple sites.
We should use passwords that are easy to guess eg. password
Q4.
Which of these statements are true?
Correct answer: It can be difficult to find viewpoints different to ours online.
We are often shown the same content as people who are different to us.
Correct answer: The internet is full of content from people with different viewpoints.
We have seen everything on the internet.
Q5.
Which of these are strategies influencers use to get more likes and followers?
posting rarely on social media
Correct answer: pretending to be relatable or aspirational online
Correct answer: lying and exaggerating on social media
never posting adverts
Q6.
An is a set of rules used or created by a computer program.
Correct Answer: algorithm

Exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
Match the words to the definition.
Correct Answer:data,detailed information stored online
tick

detailed information stored online

Correct Answer:personal data,detailed information about us stored online
tick

detailed information about us stored online

Correct Answer:advertise,persuade someone to buy something
tick

persuade someone to buy something

Q2.
What do social media companies use our data for?
Correct answer: advertising
creating videos
Correct answer: analysing
designing their website
Q3.
True or false: social media companies can only use people's money to create targeted adverts.
true
Correct answer: false
Q4.
One way we can control our data is by only accepting necessary .
Correct Answer: cookies
Q5.
Which are ways we can control our data online?
Correct answer: restrict access to location
allow all apps access to our photos
Correct answer: delete apps and accounts we don't need
Correct answer: upload data to the cloud when we can