The GoodPlay Project is exploring the ethical contours of young people’s digital lives. We are exploring five issues that we believe to be both highly salient and ethically-charged in the new media—identity, privacy, ownership and authorship, credibility, and participation. The larger goal of our project is to understand the extent to which digital media are giving rise to new mental models—or new “ethical minds”—with respect to these five issues, and to explore the incidence of ethical thinking, conduct, and supports more generally. Our methods include in-depth interviews and the posing of ethical dilemmas to youth ages 15-25. In the next phase of our work, we will apply similar methods to a study of youth ages 10-14 and influential adults (teachers, parents, youth program coordinators) in young people’s lives. We will also study young people who make use of new media to pursue civic or political goals.

Based on our research, and in collaboration with Project New Media Literacies at MIT, we have created a curriculum for high school students that addresses the ethical issues and challenges that youth face online. The curriculum is designed to scaffold awareness of the ethical implications of young people’s online activities, and to foster ethical thinking and decision-making skills through role-play, reflection, and discussion. At present, we are working with Common Sense Media on curricular initatives for middle school aged students.