An Investigation of Middle School Science Teachers and Students Use of Technology Inside and Outside of Classrooms: Considering whether digital natives are more technology savvy than their teachers

The purpose of the study is to investigate the popular assumption that the "digital natives" generation surpasses the previous "digital immigrants" generation in terms of their technology experiences, because they grow up with information and communication technology. The assumption presumes that teachers, the digital immigrants, are less technology savvy than the digital natives, resulting in a disconnect between students’ technology experiences inside and outside of the formal school setting. To examine the intersection of these generations and their technology experiences, this study used a mixed-methods approach to survey and compare middle school science teachers’(n=24) and their students’(n=1,060) inside–outside school technology experiences, and conducted focus group interviews to investigate any barriers that prevented them from using technology in school. The findings imply that the concept of digital natives may be misleading and that the disconnect between students’ inside-outside school technology experiences may be the result of the lack of sufficient teacher training concerning technology integration strategies Wang, S.-K., Hsu, H.-Y., Campbell, T., Coster, D. & Longhurst, M. (2014). An Investigation of Middle School Science Teachers and Students Use of Technology Inside and Outside of Classrooms: Considering whether digital natives are more technology savvy than their teachers. Educational Technology Research & Development. doi: 10.1007/s11423-014-9355-4