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Teaching students how to think, not what to think
Why DUCC?
With the rise in technology and children having internet access at much younger ages than ever before, new skills are required to navigate new and changing online spaces.
It is much more difficult to disengage with harmful content than it is to acquire skills ahead of time to recognize and reject it. With DUCC, students will gain critical skills at a young age so that when they inevitably encounter propaganda, misinformation, and manipulative content, they will not be as susceptible to believing it or engaging with it.
What skills does DUCC strengthen?
Social-Emotional Learning
The process of developing the skills, attitudes, & behaviors to promote positive interpersonal development and emotional regulation
Digital Literacy
The ability to understand & use digital technology in a responsible and non-harmful capacity
Critical Comprehension
The ability to analyze information objectively and use reasoning to make informed judgments that lead to rational decisions
In addition to digital literacy skills, students need a strong social-emotional foundation to build resilience to harmful online content, including strong interpersonal skills, behavioral and emotional regulation, social awareness, problem-solving, logical reasoning, and rational decision-making skills.
These skills will help reduce reactionary or impulsive thinking, reinforce individual responsibility for actions, promote intentional information consumption, and increase self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-efficacy.
Why DUCC?
Our Use of Social Emotional Learning
We remain committed to the core elements of SEL: promoting positive behavior development and emotional intelligence. We are not teaching SEL as a form of identity politics but rather as a foundation for critical thinking, logical reasoning, and rational decision-making so that students will be able to interact in online spaces responsibly.
While these skills are part of social-emotional learning, they are also simply essential life skills. We understand the importance of raising children that are intelligent, competent, confident, aspirational, disciplined, and contribute positively to society. While these skills are modeled and taught at home, schools are fundamental in reinforcing and applying them to academics and interpersonal interactions. DUCC’s lessons are also designed to be integrated into existing school subjects so as to not take time away from other class content and the already busy schedules teachers and students have.
Our Commitment to Neutrality and Transparency
DUCC remains committed to approaching conversations about misinformation in an age-appropriate, apolitical manner, and does not expose children to harmful content or encourage them to support any specific ideologies. Our content can be accessed for free and can be used in any classrooms across the nation. All content we create is evidence-based and supported by relevant and recent research from leading experts in their field.