Student learning · Grades 3–5 · 35 minutes
Create or Just Scroll?
A student and a family member log one real day of screen use and tag each piece as making something or just taking it in, discovering that what you do on a screen often matters more than how many minutes it takes.
When families talk about screen use, they usually count minutes. This activity adds a better question: what were you doing? Students learn to tag screen moments as creating (making a video, a drawing, a story, a message to someone) or consuming (watching, scrolling, listening, playing someone else's game). Both are okay, and consuming is not evil, but researchers increasingly find that the kind of screen use often matters more than the raw amount. Students practice tagging in class, then log a real day at home with a family member, who tracks their own day too. Together they look at the balance of create versus consume, notice when consuming turned into autopilot scrolling, and pick one small way to shift the mix, not to use screens less, but to use more of their screen time making things. The stance stays balanced: this is about noticing and choosing, not guilt about screen time.
In this packet
- Handout A: Create or Consume? (card sort)
- Handout B: Our One-Day Screen Log (organizer)
- Handout C: My Mix and My Move (worksheet)
- Facilitator key (last page)
TCEA ELE indicators
- S4.2 I can set achievable goals and monitor my progress.
- S4.1 I know how to take responsibility for my own learning.
- S1.1 I know how to use technology to support my learning.
- S4.3 I am aware of my learning strengths and areas for improvement.
Full facilitator guide: mglearn.github.io/eles/activities/create-or-just-scroll.html
Handout A for Create or Just Scroll?
Create or Consume?
Sort each card. CREATE means you made something new. CONSUME means you took in what someone else made. Color create one color and consume another. Some are tricky, decide and tell why.
Create
Consume
Handout A for Create or Just Scroll?
Create or Consume?: cards to sort
Cut apart the strips. Sort each one onto the mat and be ready to explain why.
Making a comic strip on a drawing app
Scrolling short videos one after another
Recording a song you wrote
Watching a cartoon
Writing a story in a document
Playing a video game someone else designed
Taking photos to make a family album
Listening to a playlist
Making a slideshow about your pet
Watching a how-to video, then building the craft yourself
Reading comments on a video
Sending a voice message to tell a cousin a joke
Handout B for Create or Just Scroll?
Our One-Day Screen Log
One log for you, one for a family member. For one normal day, write each screen moment. Mark C for Create or T for Take-in (consume), and rough minutes. Be honest, no cleanup! At the end of the day, color each row and add up your mix.
| What I did on a screen | C (create) or T (take-in) | Rough minutes | Was it autopilot? |
|---|---|---|---|
Handout C for Create or Just Scroll?
My Mix and My Move
Use your real log to fill this in. Remember: this is not about fewer minutes. It is about noticing your mix and making more of your screen time about making things.
My mix today: roughly how much was CREATE and how much was CONSUME? (You can draw two bars.)
One time my consuming turned into autopilot scrolling:
How did my family member's mix compare to mine? What did we notice together?
My MOVE this week: one thing I'll make with some of my screen time:
How I'll know I did it (what I'll have made):
Facilitator only for Create or Just Scroll?
Answer key and notes
Handout A: Create or Consume?
| Item | Sort | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Making a comic strip on a drawing app | Create | You made something that did not exist before. |
| Scrolling short videos one after another | Consume | Taking in what others made, easy to do on autopilot. |
| Recording a song you wrote | Create | You made the song and the recording. |
| Watching a cartoon | Consume | Taking in a story someone else made. That can be a fine choice. |
| Writing a story in a document | Create | Your words, your story, made by you. |
| Playing a video game someone else designed | Consume | You are inside someone else's creation (unless you are building levels). |
| Taking photos to make a family album | Create | You are making something to keep and share. |
| Listening to a playlist | Consume | Taking in music others made. Making the playlist, though, is creating! |
| Making a slideshow about your pet | Create | You put it together, so it is yours. |
| Watching a how-to video, then building the craft yourself | Create | Tricky: you consumed the video to help you create. The making is the point. |
| Reading comments on a video | Consume | Taking in what others wrote. |
| Sending a voice message to tell a cousin a joke | Create | You made the message to connect with someone. |