Review of various handbooks and curricula regarding digital citizenship education and comparison with 2018 social studies curriculum

Rapidly spreading digital technologies have become a part of daily life for everyone from infant to elderly. Especially for children, it is important that they learn to use these technologies properly and responsible, and become conscious and participating citizens online through digital citizenship education in schools. In order to provide digital citizenship education in schools, lesson plans and curricula related to digital citizenship are necessary. When the literature is reviewed, it is observed that there are various handbooks and curricula related to digital citizenship in the world, but there is no such handbook or curriculum in Türkiye. The aim of the study is to examine various handbooks and curricula related to digital citizenship in the world and compare them with the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum. The document analysis method that one of the qualitative designs was adapted in the study. While using criterion sampling, it was determined to work on four handbooks and curricula in the study. The data was analyzed according to five categories determined considering the literature review. As a result of the study, it was determined that Common Sense Media's curriculum was the most comprehensive and detailed program compared to the other handbooks and curricula and was therefore the most suitable for use. However, the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum was found to be quite inadequate compared to the four curricula studied. No data was found regarding the content, method, and evaluation categories related to digital citizenship in the curriculum.