TECHNOLOGY AT WORK

(ADDIE MODEL)

Analysis:
• Design of course – This lesson is intended to last over two class periods. The students will remain in a classroom
setting starting with a group discussion lead by the teacher. The classes will then divide into small groups and
complete the lesson.
• Audience
o Elementary Students grade(s): 3-5
o Subject area: science
• Objectives
o Students will understand the following:
▪ Technology is defined as "any invention, including tools, machines, materials, techniques, and
sources of power, that makes people's work easier."
▪ The history of technology really begins in prehistoric times.
• Identify Environment and Delivery – The environment is the classroom, where computers with internet access are
available for research. In addition, research materials on the history of technology are needed.

Design:
• Procedures
o Ask the students what they think of when they hear the word technology.
o Divide your class into groups, and have each group meet to brainstorm a list of at least 10 technological
advances they think should be included on a timeline of the most important technological advances in
human history.
o Next, have students do research to find the dates for the technological advances they plan to include on
their timelines.
o Students can make their timelines on long strips of paper
o When all groups have completed their timelines, display them around the classroom.
o Invite students to compare the timelines to see which technological advances were included on most of
them.

Development:
• Vocabulary: Before the lesson begins review some of the words that will be used in the lesson. This might even
spark a different discussion.
o Abacus:
▪ Definition: A manual computing device consisting of a frame holding parallel rods strung with
movable counters.
Context: This is an abacus. This counting machine was first used in China and the Middle East.
o Central Processing Unit
▪ Definition: The part of a computer that interprets and executes instructions.
Context: The bits are sent to the computer's brain, the CPU, where they are translated back into
words and pictures and symbols on the screen.
o E-mail
▪ Definition: Messages sent and received electronically via telecommunications links.
Context: You can send an e-mail message from the U.S. to almost anywhere in the world in just
seconds.
o Modem
▪ Definition: A device that converts information from your computer into signals that can travel
through telephone lines.
Context: A modem takes information from your computer and turns it into a signal that can travel
through the telephone lines.
o Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
▪ Definition: The address of a Web page, which allows people to find the page on the Internet.
Context: A Web page address is called a URL; that is an acronym that stands for uniform
resource locator.
o Scanner
▪ Definition: A device that allows one to convert pictures into images on the computer.
Context: You can also use a scanner to turn pictures into images on the computer that you can
put on your Web site.

• Materials needed for lesson:

o Research materials on the history of technology
o Computer with Internet access
o Long strips of paper

• Suggested Reading
o "Principles of Science: Computers"
David Macaulay's The Way Things Work CD-ROM, Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
Read the section of this CD-ROM about computers and click on all the links to learn about connected
topics.
 o The Online Classroom
Eileen Cotton, ERIC/EDINFO Press.
This book is designed to save teachers many hours of wandering in virtual space and offers a vast array
of sample lessons of varying levels of sophistication. Each lesson provides goals, rationales, objectives,
procedures, and evaluation guidelines.

• Links
o Blacksburg Visitor's Center
Visit Blacksburg, Virginia the virtual way—on a computer! Check out the weather, transportation, maps,
village mall, libraries, museums, and townspeople using the Internet.
Implementation:
• Procedures
o Ask the students what they think of when they hear the word technology. Ask them when they think
technology began.
o Let students know that technology is defined as "any invention, including tools, machines, materials, and
sources of power, that makes people's work easier." Then ask them to reconsider their ideas about when
technology began. They should realize that technology began the first time a human, or even a pre-
human, used a stick or a rock as a tool or a weapon. Such advances as the ability to make fire, the
development of agriculture, and the use of simple machines such as the lever or the inclined plane count
as technology, as do electricity, nuclear power, and the computer.
o Divide your class into groups, and have each group meet to brainstorm a list of at least 10 technological
advances they think should be included on a timeline of the most important technological advances in
human history.
o Next, have students do research to find the dates for the technological advances they plan to include on
their timelines. (Prehistoric technology can be dated simply by the word "prehistoric.")
o Students can make their timelines on long strips of paper they cut out of tape together or on brown paper
that comes in rolls. Timelines should include illustrations of the technological advances students with to
highlight.
o When all groups have completed their timelines, display them around the classroom. Invite students to
compare the timelines to see which technological advances were included on most of them.
• Discussion Questions
o Debate the issue of computers that think on their own. What would be the advantages of this level of
computer intelligence? What would be the disadvantages?
o How would your school be different if there were no computers? Survey the different parts of your school
(office, cafeteria, etc.) to find out where computers are used. Discuss how work would be done without
computers to help us.
o Describe how your class might use e-mail.
o what information might your class want to share on a Web site? Remember this information could be text,
photographs, drawings, sound, or video. Explain you design for a Web site.
Evaluation:
• Did the students achieve expected learning outcomes?
o You can evaluate groups on their timelines using the following three-point rubric:
▪ Three points: includes more than 10 items; dates accurate; illustrations included; time line
carefully prepared
▪ Two points: includes at least 10 items; most dates accurate; illustrations included; time line
satisfactorily prepared
▪ One point: includes less than 10 items; several inaccurate dates; few or no illustrations; timeline
carelessly prepared
• Adaptations
o Have students choose one of the six simple machines—inclined plane, lever, pulley, wedge, wheel and
axle, or screw—and make a model or draw a picture of it.
• Extensions
o Technology Election
Have the class hold a "nominating convention" for the single most important technological advance in
human history. For each advance nominated, have students who would vote for it meet to prepare a
"campaign speech" that will persuade classmates to agree with them. After speeches have been given,
hold an "election" to see which technological advance the majority of students in the class think is most
important.
o Make a Model
Have interested students work together to make models of the technological advances they consider
most important. If a group of students chooses something too complex for a model (e.g., a computer), the
group members can produce a labeled diagram instead.

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