As part of our methodology, we develop meaningful projects tied to real and relevant issues for the students, fostering research, creativity, and critical thinking to propose solutions collaboratively and innovatively. In this edition, we review the fifth-grade elementary project developed under the guidance of our teacher, Fátima Bastos.
This project helped students become aware of the importance of allocating balanced screen time and making commitments to themselves to help them make informed decisions about their use of technology. Additionally, they presented their findings to other students, helping them make informed decisions about technology use, understanding the importance of proper usage, and how it is linked to their rights, self-regulation strategies, and peer pressure.
This experience gave them the opportunity to seek innovative solutions to a real problem, primarily utilizing three competencies from our graduate profile: citizenship, critical thinking, and digital competence. As a starting point, each student documented their technology use, creating personal schedules to track the duration and purpose of their screen time. This exercise revealed an alarming trend of excessive use, corroborated by researching statistics from various parts of the world, delving into how it increased during the pandemic, and contrasting it with medical recommendations for appropriate use.
With this information, the students designed and conducted a survey targeting third, fourth, and fifth graders. Working in groups, each team developed a survey instrument to investigate various aspects of technology use, including parental supervision, types of content consumed, and perceived usefulness.
Tabulating the survey results provided valuable insights into prevailing trends and attitudes toward technology among their peers. Besides motivating the students to develop their research skills, as Santiago mentioned, “making the survey and tabulating it in a bar graph for presentation was fun.” It became clear that while technology was prevalent in their lives, there was a lack of adequate parental supervision and discernment regarding the quality and appropriateness of the content consumed.
In this regard, Josefina, a fifth-grade student, noted, “There are people who use technology a lot and watch screens for about 5 or 6 hours, and that’s too much… We surveyed people about how they use it, and the results were alarming.”
Additionally, they realized they were spending more time on video games and that the supervision was not the most adequate. Consequently, they discussed risky situations when using technology, shared personal experiences, and discussed possible actions to protect themselves. Encouraged by their findings, they turned their attention to developing strategies to promote responsible use.
Encouraged by their findings, they focused on developing strategies to promote responsible use. Based on their research and concerned about the potential consequences, they decided to take action. “We concluded that there needs to be a time limit for using technology,” added Josefina.
As a result, some decided to turn off the chat feature in their video games, while others considered reducing their usage time. “I used to use it between 1 to 2 hours, but now I only use it for one hour,” mentions Josefina. She also noted, “Some of my friends didn’t care about this before, but now with this project, they are measuring their time more.”
This project has helped them become aware of the importance of balanced screen time and to make commitments to themselves. Additionally, they presented their findings to the grades they surveyed, helping them make informed decisions about their technology use.
Recognizing the crucial role of their parents’ supervision, they reached certain agreements, organized an informational document, and sent the results to the families, offering practical advice to foster healthy digital habits at home. Using the KWL graphic organizer allowed them to activate prior knowledge, ask open-ended questions to deepen their research, and reflect on everything they learned at the end, making their thinking and learning process visible.
The students understood the importance of making appropriate use of technology and how it is linked to their rights, self-regulation strategies, and peer pressure, which will enable them to build good digital citizenship. This project gave them the opportunity to seek solutions to a real problem, primarily using three essential competencies from our graduate profile: citizenship, critical thinking, and digital competence.
