Digital Divide

Summary

IOC-1.C.1 Internet access varies between socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic characteristics; as well as between countries.
IOC-1.C.2 The "digital divide" refers to differing access to computing devices and the Internet, based on socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic characteristics.
IOC-1.C.3 The digital divide can affect both groups and individuals.
IOC-1.C.4 The digital divide raises issues of equity, access, and influence, both globally and locally.
IOC-1.C.5 The digital divide is affected by the actions of individuals, organizations, and governments.
IOC-1.F.10

Select one half of the room.
Give the students sitting in that area of the room scissors.
The other half of the room will not have scissors:
- If you have some regular sized scissors and also some safety scissors, then you could divide the room in thirds.
- Give one third the regular sized scissors, one third the small safety scissors, and one third will not have any scissors.
Give each student a copy of the Unit 4 Day 2 Cut Out Challenge Document.
Tell students that you are going to set the timer for three minutes and they must cut out the flower on the page within that timeframe.
Explain that they must cut the flower out as neatly as possible or they will not receive credit for the assignment.
Students without scissors will likely ask for scissors. Explain to them you do not have any for them. So they will have to either cut the flower out without scissors, or they can hope that one of their friends in the scissor area finishes with enough time to share their scissors with them.
Set the timer.

When students finish the task, ask them to hold up their cut out flower.
Ask them the following questions:
- Who did the best job cutting out their flower?
- Why do you think that was?
- What challenges did you all have?
- What challenges did some of you have?
- Was the task equitable for everyone?
- Why not?
Explain the concept of digital divide:
- Similar to their lack of equal access to scissors today there is a lack of equal access to computing devices and the Internet based on socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic characteristics.
- This is known as digital divide.
- The digital divide raises issues of equity, access, and influence, both globally and locally.
- The digital divide is affected by the actions of individuals, organizations, and governments.
- Remind them of the Vox video about how the Internet works:
  - Number of towers, cost of service, speed of repairs are all dependent on your location.
  - Large, populated cities benefit the most.
  - Rural or small countries with little infrastructure suffer the most.
Send students to the Global Information Technology Report (page 32) - link is on the Digital Divide Guided Notes page:
Have them compare different countries for their "Networked Readiness."
- Students should answer: What do you notice about a country's ranking and its income level?

Divide students into small groups of 3-4.
Instruct students to read pages 6-15 of Common Sense Media's report on the Digital Divide in Distance Learning and to work together to answer the questions on the Digital Divide Guided Notes page.
Give students around 15 minutes to review the document and answer the questions as a team.
When students are finished, ask: How can we close the digital divide? In our community? Globally?