Generation Z: An Analysis of the Tools used by Students to Study Science Outside the Classroom

Abstract

The fact that technology is part of young people’s lives is no mystery. Thus we ask: is this intimacy between technology and the generation that goes through the levels of Elementary and Middle School today influencing the way they study? More importantly, would such familiarity with technological tools be an opportunity for the advent of a new way of teaching or motivating study? The central theme of this work is to reflect on the influence of this trait that characterizes students nowadays: their mastery and attachment to technology. Besides, we report the results of an investigation to find out what tools these students use to learn Biology, Physics and Chemistry outside the classroom. One hundred students from a public High school in Conselheiro Lafaiete, MG, answered a questionnaire about these topics. The theoretical basis, analysis, and discussion of the results were guided by the literature review about the Z Generation behavior, highlighting the main implications of this generation’s features in the way they perform school activities. We also investigate students’ accessibility to internet tools and their predisposition to use them in everyday activities that do not necessarily involve studying. We conclude that these students mostly use digital tools outside the classroom, especially video-lessons, which excelled at the textual information available on the internet.