Featured Articles on the Digital Generation

From its inception, Edutopia has focused on the critical role technology plays in shaping 21st-century learners and improving 21st-century schools. Join the national conversation: Follow the links below to find cutting-edge reports about media-centric kids and the evolving digital classroom.

June 2009

Teach with Technology
Students fire off new lesson plans for the digital classroom.

Schools Look to Teacher-Training Institutions for Tech Leadership
Schools of education must fuel a digital revolution in teaching.

A Digital-Literacy Maven's Favorite Web Links
Education professor Michele Knobel uses these sites to help prepare tomorrow's teachers.

Technology Tools to Get Teachers Started
A mini-manual to Web readiness shows that immersion, with guidance, is key.

High Tech Connections Lead to Face-to-Face Disconnections
Can we redo the part where the new technologies distract us from our friends and family and the assorted joys of the here and now?

Avatars Teach Teens About Self-Image
Even as the national beauty obsession grows, a new virtual world has emerged to give kids another perspective about image.

Technology Provides a New Look at Body Image
Teachers and parents can use virtual worlds to provide teens with the comfort and security to start new, healthy conversations about their looks.

Resources to Teach About Self-Image
Discover a webinar, videos, and research reports targeted at positive messages about appearance.

Kids Create -- and Critique on -- Social Networks
A digital-literacy program encourages kids to remake social networking in the image of learning.

Social-Networking Sites Draw Teens In
In the largely unsupervised digital world, youths set the rules.

How to Talk About Life Online
Tips for teachers to help students be safe on the Internet.

June 2008

Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner
How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools.

Wii Love Learning: Using Gaming Technology to Engage Students
The Wii console is used to study geography and weather at Cumberland Elementary School, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Find out more uses for Wii consoles in education.

Syncing Up with the iKid: Connecting to the Twenty-First-Century Student
Educators must work to understand and motivate a new kind of digital learner.

No More Pencils, No More Books: A School of the Future Readies for Launch
A new high school in Chicago explores the possibilities of tech-centered learning.

Tech Without Support: IT Snags Hamper Schools' Technology Use
Schools get creative when untangling PC problems.

Zero-Thumb Game: How to Tame Texting
English teachers use text messaging as a teaching tool.

Train Yourself: A Guide to Online Tutorials
Be your own tech support: Get technology training from your computer.

More on the Digital Generation from the Edutopia.org Archives

The New Literacy: Scenes from the Digital Divide 2.0
A new digital divide has emerged between those who are at home in the world of social media and those who are not.

Computer Games Explore Social Issues
Computer game simulations help educators cover complex topics in the classroom.

AWOL Helps Troubled Students Make the Grade
A nonprofit group's summer and after-school programs support curriculum in Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools and create opportunities for troubled youth.

From Cornfields to Computers: Reinventing a Township for the Modern Age
An Indianapolis township reshapes its schools to acclimate to the modern age and their ever-changing student population.

Real World, San Diego: Hands-On Learning at High Tech High
Students prepare for the real world through technology-enabled projects.

White-Hat Whiz Kid: A Digital-Age Teen Talks Tech Turkey
High School student Dylan Field discusses his vision of technology for the next generation.

Overcoming Technology Barriers: How to Innovate Without Extra Money or Support
Five easy, practical steps toward better digital integration in your classroom.

The Fitness Revolution: A Video Game Makes Gym Class Fun Again
A Los Angeles elementary school created an exercise room for students to work out by playing Dance Dance Revolution.

Visually Speaking: Keeping the Arts Alive
A new language of visual literacy and expression has taken hold. Now it's time to add it to the classroom.

Cheating Goes Digital
With more ways to cheat in class, and videos about tricks for doing it, cheating is harder to catch. This article shares a few resources that may help.

Student Bloggers Connect with Peers
Multimedia projects about place-based education link classrooms with communities, both near and far.

Lego Mindstorms NXT Robots: Building Bonds with Bots
A look at how building robots can be fun and help students learn engineering, math, and science skills.

Internet Explorers: Virtual Field Trips Are More Than Just Money Savers
These online adventures emphasize student participation and standards-based curriculum.

Mr. Lucas Goes to Washington: Edutopia's Founder Advocates Telecom Access For All
George Lucas talks to Congress about the need for telecommunication tools and high-speed Internet in our schools.

The Media Is the Message: Invasive Messages Require Defensive Teaching
Students learn to be savvy media consumers -- and producers, too.

Childhood's End: Growing Up Too Fast
A look at how young students who should be playing dress up are now expected to prepare for exams, and the progress folders that follow them.

Kids with Cameras: Student Filmmakers Do Documentaries
High school freshmen talk about their successful documentary films.

The School of Second Life: Education Online
Exploring Second Life and its educational applications.

Tech Tales: Marco Torres on Empowering Students Through Multimedia
An interview with an innovative educator about multimedia at San Fernando High School, and how it has helped students establish themselves through the San Fernando Education Technology Team.

Digital Discussion: Take Your Class to the Internet
How to set up a blog in your classroom.

Digital Natives: Students Can Teach Teachers a Thing or Two
Ron Smith blogs about his own classroom experiment, in which he asked students to upload videos to four iPods without giving them instructions.

Become a Ringleader: Teaching with Text Messaging
Ron Smith blogs about the method of teaching using text messaging as part of the lesson plan.

Technology: You Go, Girl!
Bonnie Bracey Sutton shares a list of resources for involving girls in the technology world.

Small Screen, Big Success: Creating a Student-Produced Television Program
An informative look at the progress of a school's student-run television show.