Photos show how classrooms have changed for millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha

Two students employ Smart Board technology in 2010. John Carl D Annibale /Albany Times Union via Getty Images depicts students, Connie David and Sandy Pierce, teaching third grade at Wenonah Elementary School in Minneapolis. JOEY MCLEISTER/Star Tribune via Getty Images captures the same scene.

Chalkboards dominated US classrooms in 2000, but they had largely vanished by 2010. Connie David, a blind teacher, instructs her class using a chalkboard. Joeys McLester/Star Tribune via Getty Images shows the scene.

Handwritten notes and papers were the primary mode of completing classwork in the early 2000s. Almost all public schools had internet access by fall 2002, but traditional methods of instruction prevailed. Tim Boyle/Getty Images depicts a teacher drafting notes during a staff development program.

Cell phones became ubiquitous by 2006, fundamentally transforming student interactions. Communication shifted to instant messaging via text messages, though they were far from smartphones' capabilities. Gordon Chibroski/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images portrays teenagers engrossed in their phones during a lunch break.

Overhead projectors still held sway in many classrooms in the late 2000s. Teachers could write on transparencies and project lessons onto walls or screens, bridging the gap between chalkboard and digital lessons. Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images captures an 8th grade algebra class at KIPP Academy.

By 2009, 93% of US public schools boasted computers connected to the internet. Rasam Aminzadeh, a 15-year-old, works on a computer during a social media networking class at the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center in San Francisco. Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images depicts a group of students engaged in a digital learning activity.