Level: Grades 5 to 8

Overview

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This lesson examines how technology and media have changed over the past fifty years, and how this has influenced everyday life. In small groups, students will read a pair of case studies that review a day in the life of two high school students, one living in 1949 and the other in 1999. In each case study, students will look at the role played by the media in the lives of the individual. After discussing the case studies, students are asked to predict what the role of media might be fifty years from now.

Time 

1+ hour 

Materials 

• A Day in the Life - A Case Study (one per student) 
• Retrieval Chart (one per group of three to five students) 

Background 

In the "School Success in the Media Age" audio tapes, Dr. David Walsh describes media's impact on the developing brains of children and identifies the seven building blocks for school success. Due to technological advances, the prevalence and forms of media have changed drastically over the past 50 years. For example, 50 years ago very few households had televisions; today 99 percent of homes have a television, with an average of 2.4 televisions per household. More than half of America's children have televisions in their bedrooms. In "School Success," Dr. Walsh explores the impact of these changes on our children and our society. 

Procedure 

1. Divide the class into groups of three to five students. Explain that they will be reading two case studies that review a day in the life of two high school students, one living in 1949 and one living in 1999. Explain that they attend the same high school in the same community. 

2. Distribute the A Day in the Life - A Case Study handout to the students and ask them to read it. 

3. Define "media" for the group. Media is something that someone creates to carry a message from one person or group to another. This message can take many forms. 

4. Brainstorm a list of forms of media. The list may include, but is not limited to: 
 

television  radio  movies  magazines  videos  CD-ROMs  video games  computer games  telephone  Internet  billboards  signs  posters  mail  flyers

record players  e-mail  voice mail  pagers  cell phones  cassette tapes  graffiti  stickers (on fruits and vegetables)  catalogs  clothing (with logos, picture, and slogans)  books  newspapers  comic books  VCRs  packaging  answering machines

5. Distribute a Retrieval Chart to each student group. Instruct the students to use the retrieval chart to systematically gather information from the case studies. 

6. Discuss the following: 

7. Give each group 10 minutes to write about what they think a day in the life of a high school student in the year 2049 would be like. 

8. Have each group share their scenarios with the class. 

Extension Activity 

1. To verify the accuracy of the case studies, have students design an interview tool with a specific list of questions relating to technology, media, and lifestyle. 

2. Have students use the list of questions to interview community residents who were in high school in 1949 and local businesspeople who have been in operation since 1949 or before. 

3. Ask students to present their findings to the class.