We discussed the subject of surveys and Gen Nexters (born in the 1980s)from the reading by Ann Hulbert called Beyond the Pleasure Principle . The activity was to replicate a Pew Research Center study done in 2006 on values, behaviors and issues of Gen Nexters.
I sent the students out with the task to interview 3 people on campus (preferably people in the Gen Nexter age range) and ask them five questions. The questions were as follows:
1. Do you support gay marriage?
2. Do you support privatization of the Social Security system?
3. Do you believe it is yur duty as a citizen to vote?
4. Do you agree with the statement that technological tools make people lazier?
5. Do you agree with the statement that the growing number of immigrants in the U.S. strengthens our country.
With approximately 65 respondants, the results were tallied with Alex in charge of figuring out the best procedure for tabulation.
1. 64% supported gay marriage.
2. 47% supported the privatization of the Social Security system.
3. 90% agreed with the statement that it is your duty as a citizen to vote.
4. 58% agreed with the statement that technological tools make people lazier.
5. 18.5% of the respondants agreed with the statement that the growing number of immigrants in the U.S. strengthens our country.
We discussed the discrepancies with the statistics in the Pew Research Center study looking at the different variables, such as the demographics and the currency of the study.
The biggest difference was on Question 5 regarding immigrants strengthening our country (18.5% compared to 50% in the Pew study). We briefly talked about the high immigrant population in Florida and the issues related to employment and education. Although I wasn't terribly surprised that the survey revealed that the majority of students on the FGCU campus don't agree that immigrants strengthen our country, it brought home the point that we need to address the issue of diversity and spread awareness of what a diverse population can contribute to our nation.
This would make a good claim to use in an argument using the Rogerian pattern of argument to help students see the various perspectives on this topic.
We still had 15 minutes left in the period. I had talked about the i-Generation and planned to show the video clip below but the sound wasn't working. Instead, the students had to google the characteristics of the i-generation and form three questions regarding the values, behaviors, or issues of this generation and form their questions to try and elicit the differences between the Nexters and the i-generation.
A couple of questions posed in the discussion forum were:
(Carly's Questions)
1. Was either your first or second cell phone a smartphone?
2. Did/Do you have a facebook in middle school?
3. Have you ever used dial up Internet connection?
(Jennifer's Questions)
1. Were you in elementary school when you recieved your first cell phone?
2. Were you younger than 15 when you joined your first social net-working website?
3. Do you use a PDA for more of a research data base than your own computer?
In a way, I'm glad that the video didn't work, because it allowed time for tdiscussion of the differences between the i-generation and the Gen Nexters.
Here is the video clip I wanted to show.
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Yay my questions made it to the blog :) I think that this assignment was very interesting because I got my first cell phone when I was in 7th grade which is still pretty young, but now I know kids in elementary with cell phones which is ridiculously young! It is crazy how much our world is advancing in technology and it makes me feel old that cell phones have been out for so long and now little kids are beginning to get them!
ReplyDeleteWow, 7th grade....I suppose that is old in these days when 7 year-olds get their first cell phone. If you feel old, can you imagine how I feel....heehee....
ReplyDeleteJennifer had some really great questions on this blog. Also, wow that is really something Jennifer that you got your first cell phone in 7th grade. I remember getting my cell phone at the end of 7th grade which was a really exciting moment of life for me. Its incredible how young the kids are these days with cell phones.
ReplyDeleteCarly's Questions were more of questions I felt could be answered more than just yes or no, so I am answering hers:
ReplyDelete1. I started out with a regular motorolla flip phone, then into a razor, then a hint (motorolla themed) but after I got burned by the motorollla hint, I switched to the blackberry "crackberry", and have owned two so far. My next plan for a phone will be an HTC Evo, which is the smartest smartphone out there. What can I say, I guess I have fallen into the trap, and become a bit obsessed. :)
2. I didn't have a facebook in middle school, but I believe that I had a myspace. When I was in middle school, it made no sense to have a facebook, because facebook was for grown-ups and college students, which made it by association not as cool as myspace, which is where you could talk to your friends, "pimp out your myspace page", and lots of other "cool" things.
3. Oh, how much I hated dial up. I got my first computer in the late 90's and it was a windows 95, the only computer right after the first computer windows me, man was it ancient, but back then, my computer was still awesome, and tricked out with the coolest accessories and best hard drive availible at that time. Only issue is that "broad band" wasn't out yet, unless you owner some electronics company, or were the wealthy of the wealthy, it didn't come out for the large sector until mid 2000. So I had good 'ol a.o.l. I hated every minute of it. It was slow, and you needed to wait like 5-10 minutes just to get it to "connect" to the server with your user name and password armed. Not to mention it meant yet another cable, running under my desk to get tangled with the various other cables. I'm so glad we not only have broadband and faster internet, but that it is wireless as well.
These questions really got me thinking back to the reality that these technological advances, have only recently become avalible and haven't been around as long as they feel like they have, because we have grown so used to them so quickly. Many of us feel life would be wasteful without them.
Wow, I can remember getting my first cell phone in the 6th grade. Now i bet kids are getting phones before that; for example my cousin is in the 4th grade and he has an i-phone. Technology is becoming part of everyday life in the sense that people have to rely on their phone.
ReplyDeleteI loved this assignment because I am blown away by how fast we our advancing with technology these days. It is crazy to me how much younger people are doing things that people didn't do until they were much older. Hearing the story that you told the class about how technology is becoming a part of the igeneration and how a young girl you knew got into a pool with her cell phone in hand and was about to text was very shocking. Also, walking about surveying people was exteremely enjoyable for me. I always wonder about those same questions so being able to hear other peoples my age responses was really cool. I thought that the question about technology making people lazier would have gotten a higher percentage than it did but I guess that's just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWOW.. I didn’t get my first cell phone till my 8th grade year for my birthday! My sister got her first cell phone at the begging of her middle school years in 6th grade. It crazy how fast everything changes. It was neat researching the different generations and what they are known for or what is expected of them. The story that you told in class, about the girl holding her phone while sitting in the hot tube was too fun. At the same time the story was a little bit shocking. Technology really has an impact on the igeneration.
ReplyDelete