Travis Hickox Portfolio 6: Lesson Development

In developing a learning experience or lesson I first start with looking at the NGSS standards that
are appropriate for my grade level. An example would be MS-PS4-3, Waves and their Applications in
Technologies for Information Transfer. Examining the standard closer, its emphasis is on making sure
learners can support the claim that digitalized signals are more reliable than analog signals. This
instantly leads me to wanting to do an inquiry-based lesson on discovering for themselves that the
transmission of digital signal is better. For this standard I found a lesson that involves Slinkys to
demonstrate the different signals. It was the perfect lesson because my learners used Slinkys in a
previous lesson to demonstrate transverse and compression waves. Since digital and analog signals are a
form of waves learners can apply their background knowledge to this current lesson on signals. Slinkys
are a cheap resource for the classroom if explicit instruction is given that the Slinkys need to be
respected, as they can easily tangle and stretch. To demonstrate analog signals learners needed to
change the amplitude of the Slinky waves in a continual movement. Amplitude was learned in a previous
lesson when we discussed the various parts of a wave. For digital signal, learners had to send distinct
pulses of one or two and they could pause in between transmissions. Learners of all abilities could
participate in this in some way because there are groups of four, with each group member having a
distinct job. Those jobs being anchor, transmitter, receiver, and image generator. Modifications were
made by learners self-electing to do jobs within the group they felt comfortable doing. My assessment
of this standard was asking probing questions on what the difference is between analog and digital
signal and why you would favor one over the other. By going through the lesson learners will gain a
physical understanding of how both digital and analog signal work. This will help them explain the pros
and cons for each mode of communication.

The design of this lesson was explicitly made for groups of four at the minimum. All group
members would need to be involved for this lesson to be accomplished. Each group member has a job
and responsibility within the group. A single person is not able to accomplish this lesson alone which
means all learners must participate. Since this lesson deals with technology, it is very easy to lend this
lesson to the interests of my students. Technology is all around us, it ranges from how our phones
communicate to how we listen to radio in our cars. All my learners could relate to this lesson after I
explained how the study of these signals relate to the real world. It actually makes this lesson vital in
understanding how most all electronics work.

Some feedback I got about this digital vs analog lesson from my mentor teacher after my lesson
was that I kind of went off on a bit of a tangent with my seven-segment display worksheet. For that, I
made learners use digital code to find the time. My mentor felt that it wasn’t that important to spend
much time on and that the main idea was looking at why digital was better then analog for
communication. After receiving that feedback, if I were to teach this again, I would spend less time on
that part of the lesson. I just found it interesting in explaining how digital clocks worked. My mentor also
warned me about the Slinkys and how I need to spend some time talking with the class about how they
should work with them. I adjusted my lesson to make time for a full Slinky talk but even with taking that
time some of our classroom Slinkys were not in the best of shape by the end of the day. This advice
improved my lesson by making me think about the little logistics of my lesson like how to handle lab
equipment, even if it isn’t dangerous. Talking about how to handle the Slinkys may have been something
I would have talked about starting second period after noticing the mishandling of them during first
period, but it may have been too late for some Slinkys in that scenario and my mentors feedback on that
saved me the hassle.
 Travis Hickox Portfolio 6: Lesson Development

ANALOG VS DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY LESSON (80 MIN)

Objective:

I can explain the difference between analog and digital signal.

Lesson Sequence:

Day 1:
10 min Daily Journal- What are some examples of Analog and digital technology?
In the NGSS Lesson
10 min Activity 1 Your First Message (pg.6-7)
10 min Activity 2 Digital vs Analog (pg. 8)
10 min Activity 3/4 Your Second Message (pg. 8-9)
3 min Exit Ticket 1
Homework: Activity 6 and conclusion questions on same page.
Day 2:
10 min Daily Journal- Activity 5 (Finding number of pixels for a resolution) and "What is the difference
between high and low resolution?"
10 min Seven Segment Display Sheet (pg. 13)
18 min Analog World, Digital World Graphing (pg. 16-18)
5 min Exit Ticket (In pairs decode index cards)

Lesson Design:

Day 1, learners will be working is groups of four as outlined in the NGSS lesson. Slinkys and blind
folds will be needed for each group. A few minutes should be spent on talk about respecting the Slinkys
as they will easily tangle and stretch. The teacher can also prep by taping a one-meter strip of tape
down with another line perpendicular to that measured out in increments of 10 cm up to 40 cm for each
group. It's best to model the first activity.

Day 2, review the homework to check for understanding and do activity 5 for the warm-up.
Introduce the seven-segment display and relate it to the digital clock by their bedside. This doesn't have
to be a worksheet but just a PowerPoint slide. They can do this in their composition books. Transition to
the graphing activity where they can work in their groups. Everyone should be working in their packets.
Question them about the difference in rate of sampling, relating it back to analog and digital signals.
Have learners do the exit ticket index card decoding in pairs. *Military time is used.

Exit Tickets: (Formative Assessments)

-What is the difference between Analog and Digital signal?

-Decode the time of the seven-segment display given the binary inputs. (see chart)