Meme

High school (ages 12+)
Thinking & Learning

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/meme

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the propagation mechanism?Spread through social sharing, imitation, adaptation, and algorithmic amplification on digital platforms
2. What is the related concepts?Viral marketing, copypasta, digital folklore, cultural evolution
3. Why do memes become popular?Memes are popular because they are easy to understand, funny, and people can change them to fit their own ideas. When many people share them, they grow even faster.
4. How did the first internet meme start?The first famous internet meme was the "Dancing Baby" GIF in the late 1990s. It showed a little baby dancing and was shared all over the web.

Meme: A unit of cultural information spread by imitation, analogous to a gene in biological evolution.
Internet Meme: A meme that propagates rapidly through the internet, often in the form of an image macro, GIF, or video.
Cultural Transmission: The process by which cultural elements, such as ideas and behaviors, are passed from one individual or generation to another.
Image Macro: A digital image with superimposed text, typically used in internet memes for humorous or relatable commentary.