Lego has launched a new interactive experience that aims to teach kids online empathy.
Timed to launch with this year’s Safer Internet Day, the educational online quiz is part of a new partnership with digital education think tank DQ Institute.
Kids can join Lego character Captain Safety to explore what digital empathy means, how to recognise and stand up against cyberbullying, and learn the importance of being an upstanding digital citizen.
The experience is structured like a personality quiz, in which scenarios featuring animated Lego Minifigures demonstrate how online mobs, bullying, and misinformation spread works. Kids are praised for reporting or speaking up against “meanies” who are creating chaos and spinning truth, as well as for comforting those who have been harassed or had lies spread about them online.
Importantly, the quiz also asks kids to be honest about whether they have been a “meanie” themselves, and how to apologise and rectify the situation when feelings are being hurt.
Image: lego
After all the questions have been answered, the experience reveals which of four “online heroes” you’re most like: Sir Hug A Lot (“who embodies online empathy”), Butterclops (“a representation of online self-awareness”), AeroVision (“designed to help children acknowledge the perspectives of other people”), and Admiral Highfive (“a character created to talk about being kind online”).
Each Lego hero is an embodiment of the digital empathy skills recommended for kids by the DQ Institute. The experience was co-designed with Lego using a framework published in 2020 by the think tank as “the world’s first global standard related to digital literacy, digital skills, and digital readiness.”
Image: lego
The DQ Institute’s recently published 2020 Child Safety Index report cites that 45 percent of children aged between 8 and 12 report that they have been affected by cyberbullying. The Lego collaboration aims to boost digital empathy levels in children of this age group, to reduce this number, through a channel already well-versed in communicating with kids and parents.
“We share a common vision with the Lego Group to empower children to be good digital citizens who can minimise cyber-risks and maximise their potential in the digital world,” said DQ Institute founder Yuhyun Park in a press statement. “That’s why we’re so pleased to be working with the Lego Group since they are experts in communicating with children. We hope that the playful experience we design together will help to empower children to make the internet a better place for them in the future.”
For more about online safety for kids, check out Mashable’s five-part series on the topic.
