Who are the Generation Z Learners?

"This photo is owned by Holly Clark"

Observe the details of Generation Z students in the infographic above.

Generation Z learners are individuals born after 1995. They are the first generation born into a technology-rich world. These individuals have never experienced a world without Google. Understanding our students is important for fulfilling their needs. Generation Z students are the most digitized generation and require a more advanced lesson plan.

An important piece of advice given by Holly Clark about Gen Z is to help this generation learn the value of deep learning and deep work (Clark. 29). Although this group of individuals are brilliant with understanding technology, they have small attention spans, and require teachers to instill the ability to fact-check the information that is accessible so easily online.

Gen Z Students Require Help with:

• Utilizing Short Attention spans

• Problem- Solving Skills

• Learn how to make Change to Big Problems Effectively

• Feeling rewarded for their efforts

On page 29, Holly Clark presents a problem that teachers are left with as they learn to adapt to this generation : Generation Z learners are "passionate– they want to change the world! So many of them are doing just that”(Clark 29) the example given is about the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida (Clark 30).

Those students experienced a mass shooting in their school and instead of simply moving on with a little fright, they instead took the matter into their own hands. They created petitions and presented them to congress to create change, and to prevent this awful event from happening to another school.

How can we, teachers, train our students to make the changes they long to make? We must build classrooms that help incorporate that passion into real learning experiences.

What can Teachers incorporate into classrooms to help these students?

• Curiosity is center stage

• Enable skills so these students can ask big questions and make big changes in their lives and worlds.

• Develop multiple skills

• Make connections between the work being taught and the world we live in, that our students are living in.

• Involve student’s opinions as much as possible.

Holly Clark offers many good arguments for teachers to learn how to incorporate technology into their classrooms. The biggest incentive for being trained to utilize technology is the role that it plays in our student's lives.