Prensky (2010) states that “Today’s students will not live in a world where things change relatively slowly (as many of us did) but rather in a future where things change extremely rapidly—daily and exponentially. So today’s teachers need to be sure that, no matter what subject they are teaching, they are teaching it with that future in mind”.

Teaching teenagers is a challenge for the majority of teachers. Students at that age are changing physically, coping with strong emotions, building their values, their identity.

Currently, we are facing new types of learners. They were born to the digital era; they live in a world of images, sounds, constant exposure to the latest information. This is also reflected in the way they perceive and elaborate the information. They belong to the so-called Generation Z, also called iGen (see the figure below).

 

Generation Name

Births
Start

Births
End

Youngest
age in 2021

Oldest Age
Today*

The Lost Generation
The Generation of 1914

1890

1915

106

131

The Interbellum Generation

1901

1913

108

120

The Greatest Generation

1910

1924

97

111

The Silent Generation

1925

1945

76

96

Baby Boomer Generation

1946

1964

57

75

Generation X (Baby Bust)

1965

1979

42

56

Xennials

1975

1985

36

46

Millennials / Generation Y, Gen Next

1980

1994

27

41

iGen / Gen Z

1995

2012

9

26

Gen Alpha

2013

2025

1

8
Figure Generations typology (Source: Which generation are you?, 2021)