OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

The purpose of this lesson was to introduce the students to what the definition of technology is, what everyday items around them qualify as technology, and how technology has evolved and with the evolution how it has positive and negative consequences.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Social Studies
• Grade Level : 6-8
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Computing Systems
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Fostering an Inclusive Computing Culture
• Materials:
  • cameras, ipods, watch, cellphones, toothbrush, pencils, etc.
• Considerations:
  • Nothing except an understanding of the current definition of technology and some examples

Lesson Plan

Overview

The purpose of this lesson was to introduce the students to what the definition of technology is, what everyday items around them qualify as technology, and how technology has evolved and with the evolution how it has positive and negative consequences.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

What do you think the definition of technology is? What qualifies as a technological advancement? Give an example of a technological advancement from ancient history and one from modern times and explain why they qualify as technology.

OBJECTIVES

1.    By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify technology from a basic to advanced level and understand the impact of each technology.
   

2.    The student will be able to look at a problem from the past and be able to problem solve how those people were able to overcome the problem and how it benefited them.
   

CATCH/HOOK

The hook for this lesson is a gallery walk type activity where the students will walk around the classroom and look at 15 different items (camera, iPod, cellphone, watch, toothbrush, pencil, etc) and write down all the items they think count as being considered a piece of technology.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

These lessons or mini-unit would probably take 3-4 days to teach, with 40-minute classes. In order to do so, I would introduce the idea of technology and look at how different technologies throughout different time periods has impacted shaped people’s lives and career choices from prehistory to today. They will look at the importance and impact any new technology has had on the way people interacted with one another, their daily lives, gender roles, lifestyle, etc. The students will get to share what technological advancements they can think of and share a way that it impacted the lifestyle of people alive at that time in any of the above categories. After understanding what technology is, the students will research different periods of time and look at technological advancements of the time, along with the impact it had on people living during that time, they will then move on to modern day where we will look at a variety of examples and how they have shaped their lives. They will focus on the positive benefits and negative consequences of the technology and how it has evolved and shaped human life.

Supplements

Any items in this section are the property & under the license of their respective owners.

REVIEW

The wrap-up of this activity was to look at technological advancements of the students choice from ancient history, middle ages, and modern times. They looked at the benefits, the downsides/negative side effects, the cost, and the evolution of that piece of technology and whether we still use it today on a ‘Google It’ type activity (a picture was included on the other upload). We looked at different careers and jobs that have come about in different Eras that we are studying and some from today that have come about from technological advancements and some that have gone extinct because of it.

STANDARDS