Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
Schools

* Madison-Oneida BOCES- This document may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the District Superintendent or his designee.

LU Title: Understanding Technology

Author(s): Susan Cooke

Grade Level: 7

School Address: Waterville Central

Subject Area: Technology

School Phone/Fax: (315)841-3800/3939

 

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

Declarative

Procedural

  • Students will obtain an understanding of the definition of the work technology.
  • Students will write an outline organizing data.
  • Students will understand the evolution, impact, and many aspects of technology in our society.
  • Students will conduct a search on the Internet.
 
  • Students will present orally from an outline written by them a report on a specific area of technology, an inventor, or an invention and its impact on society.

 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

 

INITIATING ACTIVITY

 Using the CD, "The Development of Technology", and an LCD projector, show the students the Introduction, which emphasizes the fact that technology and its effects are all around use but that it did not come all at once. It progressed slowly and with its occasional bumps and lurches. It also points out that technology 50,000 years ago with our ancestors chipping a cutting edge onto the end of a rock and attaching it to a pole to become a tool. This introduction leads into the remaining part of this unit--the definition of technology, the evolution of technology, and the impact technology has had, does have, and will have on society.

 

Learning Experiences

Declarative Knowledge

What declarative knowledge should e in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of the unit, the student will know or understand…

What experiences or activities will be used to help students acquire & integrate this knowledge?

What strategies will be used to help students construct meaning, organize and/or store the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

 The students will analyze inventions that inventors have invented while classifying inventions into areas of technology and determining the impact the technology has had in our present lives.

Construct meaning: definition of technology; evolution of technology; advantages/disadvantages in terms of effects of technology on our society.

Research an inventor or invention, indicating the impact the inventor or invention had on society.

Textbook (Technology and You, Goetsch & Nelson, 1987; purchased by school); teacher-generated list of 11 general areas of technology, computers, word processing program, LCD projector.

Computer; LCD projector, Chapter 1 of textbook listed above.

Internet, CD Encyclopedias, "Development of Technology CD".

Classifying; Think, Pair, Share.

DRTA (direct reading); Lecture/Discussion.

Graphic Organizer--Charts on Power Point.

Students will be given a list of 11 general areas of technology. Students shall read from the introduction in the textbook which gives an overview of famous inventors and their inventions. (A textbook can be replaced with a teacher-generated information sheet of inventors and their inventions, using well-known inventors such as Edison, Watt, Franklin, Whitney, Wright Brothers, Carver, Hopper, etc. Students shall discuss the inventors, their inventions, what significant developments came about as the result of these inventions, and classify the technology(s) that these inventions enhanced.

Students will read about and be able to define technology by identifying its four parts. Teacher will use DRTA to let students decide which given situations are examples of technology. Students will use organize in their typed notes the evolution of technology in specific areas (transportation, communication, health care, agriculture--as described in detail in the text). Students will also use generalization patterns to list the good effects and bad effects (also listed as advantages) of technology. Students shall be assigned to read the chapter and define the keywords for this chapter.

Using a pre-printed graphic organizer, students will fill in the steps necessary to gather the information to complete a research on an inventor or invention of his/her interest. There is a list in the "Development of Technology CD" for students who need help selecting a topic. The outline should include any inventions, significant developments, and technology(s) enhanced.

Learning Experiences

Procedural Knowledge

What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring & integrating? As a result of this unit, students will be able to:

What will be done to help students construct models, shape & internalize the knowledge?

Describe what will be done.

 Students will use a graphic organizer to sort information into four categories: Inventor, Invention(s), Significant Development(s), and Technology(s) Enhanced.

Students will understand the process of giving an oral presentation.

A model outline, a textual graphic organizer, a list of inventors from the preface of the textbook (teachers may develop their own list or have the students research a list of inventors, depending on time constraints).

A list of criteria used to judge a person during a speech; a checklist and/or rubric for rating.

Students will use a graphic organize with four labels; they will create a form on a word processor using this graphic organizer and duplicate it eight times (copy/paste), thus reinforcing the fact that technology can save us time, help perform jobs faster, and increase production. Teachers will discuss an inventor and show the students how to complete the form, filling in the inventor, his or her inventions, the significant developments these early inventions led to in our present lives, and the technology(s) enhanced which will come from a list of 11 general areas of technology that the teacher will post. Students will work together in pairs, discussing eight inventors, and they will complete their eight forms.

After going over the list of criteria important for giving an oral presentation, students shall be given a list of five simple items they have to report on in less than five minutes. Students may use only five written words on an index card for their report. Peer review and the checklist of what to look for during an oral presentation will be used for peer review. This would be a good way to integrate the unit with an English class--outline-writing and oral presentations; it could be taken one step further in English class and a report could be written.

 

Learning Experiences

Extending and Refining

What knowledge will students be extending and refining? Specifically, they will be extending and refining their understanding of…

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe what will be done.

Students shall show an understanding of technology and the impact it has had on society.

  • Comparing

Classifying

  • Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning

  • Error Analysis

Analyzing Perspectives

  • Constructing Support
  • Abstracting
  • Other:

 Students shall use any research tool in the media center including the Internet (e.g., www.hq.nasa.gov) to research a list of inventors' inventions and to classify the inventions into the type(s) of technology they enhanced.

 

Planning Guide

 

Unit:

 

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

What knowledge will students be using meaningfully? Specifically, they will be demonstrating their understanding of and ability to...........

What reasoning process will they be using?

Describe student's products and performances and the criteria for evaluation.

 

[ ] Decision Making
(selecting from seemingly equal alternatives or examining the decisions of others)
[ ] Problem Solving
(seeking to achieve a goal by overcoming constraints or limiting conditions)
[ ] Invention
(creating something to meet a need or improve on a situation)
[ ] Experimental Inquiry
(generating an explanation for a phenomenon and testing the explanation)
[ ] Investigation
(resolving confusions or contradictions related to a historical event, a hypothetical past or future event, or to the defining characteristics of something)
[ ] Systems Analysis
(analyzing the parts of a system and how they interact)
[ ] Other:

Products/Performances

Criteria for evaluation

Rubric:

Key Questions:

What are the key elements, traits, or dimensions that will be evaluated?

Are the identified elements of equal importance or will they be weighed differently?

Element #1

Element #2

Element #3

Element #4

Elements


Scale

Inventor/Inventions 

History of Technology

Significant Developments

Impact of Technology

Weights

 

 

 

 

4

Clearly identified the inventor/inventions and correctly classified the type of technology it would be

Clearly stated the history of the invention, including the date(s) of the invention(s)

Clearly identified the developments that the invention(s) has led to in our society (why and how)

Clearly identified with examples the impact that the invention had on our society, has had in our present society, and may have in the future

3

Identified the inventor/most of the inventions, and closely identified the type of technology it would be classified under

Closely stated the history of the invention with most of the date(s) of the invention(s)

Closely identified the development that the invention has led to in our society (why or how)

Closely identified with examples the impact that the invention had on our society, has had in our present society, and may have in the future

2

Did not identify the inventor, inventions, or the classification of technology

Did not include the date(s) with the history of the invention(s)

Somewhat identified the development that the invention has led to in our society

Somewhat identified with/without examples that the invention had on our society, has had in our present society, or may have in the future

1

Did not identify clearly or omitted the inventor, inventions, or classifications of technology

Did not give a history of the invention(s)

Did not identify the development that the invention has led to in our society

 Did not identify the impact that the invention had on society, including past, present, and future

NOTE: Rubric or other performance assessment instruments may be used.

 

Constructing a Holistic
Scoring Tool
(Rubric or Activity Specific Key)

Key Questions:

* How many score points are needed to discriminate among the full range of different degrees of understanding, proficiency, or quality?

This response, product, or performance provides evidence of understanding of concept/principle/generalization or proficiency in skill/process/strategy.

 

Have You Considered These Yet?

Learn to Learn Skills:

Assessment Modifications:

Unit Schedule/Time Plan:

 Approximately two weeks (block scheduling)

Written Overview:

 This is a relatively easy unit that can be done without use of a textbook. A teacher can develop all of his or her own resources. The student shall have an understanding of technology, the evolution of technology, and the impact technology has had in our society, how it is impacting our society today, and how technology shall impact our society in the future. This is also a unit that can become a thematic unit with the English teacher teaching outline writing and report writing (the end result), the Social Studies teacher working with the students on the history of technology, inventions, and inventors, the science teacher helping students invent a new invention (which could be a spin-off of one of the invention researched and done in conjunction with the Technology Teacher), and the math teacher helping with the math applications of the new inventions.