OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

This is going to be one of the first lessons that will be taught this school year as a way to set the stage for the year of social studies and will be more of an introduction to technology than a hands on use of technology. We will look at what the definition of technology is and some examples of it in every civilization we will be studying throughout the year. We will look at the positive and negative side effects of the technology had on people at the time and how it impacted or affected their daily lives and then jump forward to modern day and do the same thing with technology we have available. There will be a computer science and social studies standard for this one and the STEM integration will be in the form of giving the students a problem in history and what technology then invented to solve that problem.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Social Studies, Technology
• Grade Level : 6-8
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Impacts of Computing
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Communicating About Computing
• Materials:
  • Computer for research
• Considerations:
  • Have a basic idea of what big technological advancements were found in the civilizations or Eras you want to look at so you can help the students.

Lesson Plan

Overview

This is going to be one of the first lessons that will be taught this school year as a way to set the stage for the year of social studies and will be more of an introduction to technology than a hands on use of technology. We will look at what the definition of technology is and some examples of it in every civilization we will be studying throughout the year. We will look at the positive and negative side effects of the technology had on people at the time and how it impacted or affected their daily lives and then jump forward to modern day and do the same thing with technology we have available. There will be a computer science and social studies standard for this one and the STEM integration will be in the form of giving the students a problem in history and what technology then invented to solve that problem.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

Pre-test: It would ask “what do you think the word technology means” and then “list three technological advancements throughout history, talk about why they were important or what kind of impact they had on people living at that time, and then rank them from most important (#1) to least (#3) – and this is your opinion so there is no wrong answer.”
Post-test: It would ask “what do you think the word technology means” and then “after looking at technology throughout history, think about it and list three technological advancements you think had the biggest impact on shaping history and civilizations, talk about why they were important or what kind of impact they had on people living at that time, and then rank them from most important (#1) to least (#3) – and use evidence to back your choices.'

OBJECTIVES

1

CATCH/HOOK

I would lay out a bunch of items next to numbers (computer, cellphone, screw, calendar, book, pencil or pen, calculator, arrowhead, CD, flash drive/thumb drive, Bluetooth speaker, candle (I would tell them to imagine it was lit to show fire), glass, etc.) and ask them to list the number next to the item that they think shows proof of being a technological advancement.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

1.    For this lesson, the students will start class with a “pre-test” that would just be in the form of a warm-up type question to gauge what their understanding of technology is.  It would ask “what do you think the word technology means” and then “list three technological advancements throughout history, talk about why they were important or what kind of impact they had on people living at that time, and then rank them from most important (#1) to least (#3) – and this is your opinion so there is no wrong answer.”  
   

2.    After we finish with that, I would need to give the actual background information on what qualifies as a technological advancement in different periods throughout history.  This could be anything from: weapons, language (written and oral), math, astronomy, architecture, roads and shipways, animals (labor, domestication, travel), radios, televisions, phones, airplanes, computers, internet, modern weapons, etc. 
   

3.    Once they have some general background knowledge, I would give them some situations or scenarios of problems throughout history and as a group we would work through what solution was made in terms of technological advancements. 
   

4.    From there, as long as school is back to normal this year, I would assign each table group a civilization to research and find what the top 3 (could go to 5 if they had a lot to choose from) technological discoveries, advancements or inventions were and the impact it had on people’s daily lives at the time.  
   

5.    Once the groups had this done, this would most likely take the rest of the class period, they would turn them in and then start the next day by refreshing their ideas with their group before presenting their findings to the class.  Each group would need to take notes on the presentation of other groups. (I would give them a pre-typed note sheet with the different civilizations and the 3-5 spaces to fill in technological advancements and importance)
   

6.    From there, we would regroup as a class and talk about all of the technological advancements that were listed on their notes, and they would again find their top 3 of importance and we would discuss why they chose them, what impact they had on people alive at the time, and how not everyone will agree on which were most important because it depends on the perspective of the person looking at them. (This would be day 2)
   

7.    The last part of this lesson, would be to start looking at modern day technological advancements and the impact they have had on their daily lives of people, including their own.  This one will be really fun, because none of my student’s in 6th grade have ever lived in a time without cell phones, computers, internet, digital cameras, televisions, gaming systems, etc.  We will again do a top 3 technological advancements of modern times to get this class started and have a more in-depth talk about it. (I have feeling that this will be the day the kids really get into this lesson and might take most of class just with the debates over which technology they think is more important and why, the positive and negative impacts of it, and how these new technologies shape their present and future lives.)
   

8.    After we have done that, we would watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLsPXJa4220 and have a discussion on how we did with our list of technological advancements: did we miss anything? Did the video miss anything on our list?
   

9.    On the 4th day, we would start the “post-test” or wrap-up assignment for this mini-unit or lessons. There will be 30 questions that will be cut out or in an envelope and the students will pick one at random and read about a problem from a civilization we went over and answer in a short essay response how that civilization solved this issue and what the positive, negative, and impact it had on people alive at the time. 
   

10.    As an extension for the students who finish early and need added enrichment, they can draw a comic strip of the problem and solution, build a model of what the advancement was, do a newspaper write up on the technology invented and look more in-depth on it’s impacts on future civilizations.
    

Supplements

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REVIEW

The wrap-up will be the problem in history and what technological invention was used to solve it.

STANDARDS