The Teacher of Generation Alpha

The Teacher of Generation Alpha is organized in nine chapters. In Chapter 1, we provide a brief comparison of Generation Alpha with the previous generations, introduce their basic characteristics, and offer some recommendations about the ideal educational design. Chapter 2 examines the necessary skills teachers must obtain in order to understand Generation Alpha better and provides an understanding of the current context of Generation Alpha. Chapter 3 focuses on how to design the instruction by using a specific instructional design model, called UbD (Understanding by Design). Chapter 4 reflects on the recent theories and pedagogical implications about fostering student creativity in Alpha classrooms. It also summarizes approaches and methods for a creative classroom. Chapter 5 explains some differentiation strategies such as Cubing, RAFT, Menu, and Choice Boards that provide options for each student’s learner profile and interest to handle individual differences. Chapter 6 offers self-management strategies, which enhance collaboration and innovation via changing norms and let students create and explore in Alpha classes. Chapter 7 focuses on measurement and evaluation methods for Generation Alpha and aims to enrich teachers’ skills about integrating appropriate assessment procedures in the classroom. Chapter 8 aims to guide teachers on how to enhance the DQ digital citizenship abilities of Generation Alpha and ensure that they have these skills to satisfy the needs and challenges of the digital world. Finally, Chapter 9 focuses on providing data literacy skills for teachers so that they are able to meet the basic requirements of Generation Alpha and the environment they are born into. In short, we try to offer teachers recommendations and strategies in various fields throughout the book to address this new generation, called Generation Alpha.

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my deep appreciation to all the authors, who showed continuous encouragement, dedication, and interest in the publication of this book from the beginning. I feel indebted to teachers, administrators, students, and colleagues without whose feedback it would not have been possible to prepare this book. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Tunç Bozbura, the Vice president of Bahçeşehir University for his great encouragement about preparing this publication. Lastly, I wish to thank Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz, the President of Bahçeşehir University for her continued guidance and support and the peaceful environment she created to concentrate on preparing this publication.

Nihal Yurtseven, PhD

Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

October, 2019

An Overview of Generation Alpha

Abstract: Demographers and social scientists have named generations with different letters over the last 50 years, and it has always been a concern for educationalists to examine the characteristics of generations to fully understand their needs, preferences or tendencies in the learning environment. Starting with the silent generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z have attracted the attention of a large environment. Considering the technological advances and scientific developments in years, we face the indisputable fact that each generation comes with its original and distinctive characteristics. Among the generations, Generation Alpha, known as “tech thumbs”, has deserved the careful consideration of educationalists in recent years. This chapter focuses on Generation Alpha, which has been present since 2010 – the environment they are born into and the necessary teacher competencies that teachers need to prepare this generation for future. Tracking the characteristics of this special generation in detail will help the teachers gain a broad perspective of Generation Alpha and its most basic and commonly observed features.

Keywords: GenerationsGeneration Alpha21st-century skillseducational design

At a Glance: Generations

Defined as people in a society or family who are nearly the same age, the term “generation” connotes a group of people who share the environments of the same age, hence sharing similar worries, similar troubles, similar excitement, happiness and apprehensiveness. They represent a group of people united in a particular sense, display unprecedented levels of distinctness from the former ones and form a new sense and perception of life. Reis (2018), while mentioning the influence of key societal experiences such as dominant political, economic and cultural impacts, points out the prominence of molding of people in a certain period of time. These variables have the potential power for people to view the world differently from the older counterparts and give the majority of the cohort a new and unique meaning of life, thus paving the way for viewing the world from a different perspective. Their responses or reactions to specific subject matters and events also make them particular. This reveals the fact that every generation is exclusive and has unique characteristics in terms of lifestyles, values, priorities in life, thoughts and feelings (Williams & Page, 2011).

The fact that generations have profound impacts on different aspects of a society’s culture cannot be underestimated. This influence may range from ←11 | 12→production and naturally consumption habits, art, politics, professional careers, family life to macroeconomic status and economic prospects of a country. This organic link between a particular generation and its priorities has unearthed the need to classify and label each of them. However, it should be noted that there might emerge some distinctive characteristics even among the members belonging to the same generation. Further, being exposed to different living conditions, having dissimilar personalities and uniqueness peculiar to mankind make the distinction among the boundaries of generations open to question. Nevertheless, partly due to the popularity of the subject matter along with its impact on social, economic and cultural agents, the concept of common characteristics of a generation has gained importance across the globe.