How Smartphones Changed Us

Overview

Essential Question: How have Smartphones changed us?
Source: Multiple videos (see slideshow)
Format: Slide Presentations, "Windows and Mirrors" Jigsaw, Circle Discussion, Exit Ticket, Mind Map (LucidChart)
Learning Objectives: Students will:

• Use images and videos to reflect on how smartphones changed life for individuals and communities

• Use videos to find examples of positive and negative impacts of smartphones, and look for "windows and mirrors" in those videos

• Discuss what they learned, and what they experience in their lives, in Circle.

• Share 3 positive and negative examples in an exit ticket

• View all submitted responses and build individual mind maps (and contribute to a full-class mind map).

Summary: Smartphones have inserted themselves into most aspects of our lives, providing access to information and applications that have clear benefits and risks. Videos are useful in conveying these changes, showing what life was like before and after smartphones became ubiquitous. "Mirrors" are scenes in videos that reflect our own experiences, while "Windows" reflect the experiences of people unlike us.

This lesson sequence introduces students to LucidChart, a graphic organizing tool we return to often. As we pool our understandings together in a mind map, we can share a baseline understanding of how smartphones have changed, and are changing, us. Students discover that on the negative side, almost all of the problems people describe tend to be related to social media, while the positive side includes mostly other applications.