Unit 1. Your Virtual World
Revision Date: Jan 11, 2020 (Version 3.0)Summary
Computing greatly affects the everyday lives of today's teens, but many of them are not consciously aware of these influences. In this lesson, students investigate the impact of the Internet on their lives.
Using a presentation about modern computers as an example, the teacher models the process of asking questions, organizing ideas, doing research, and giving a presentation. Students will then work in assigned groups to create presentations on the Internet and its Impact using online collaboration tools.
Students will experience some of the many collaborative tools available online and develop effective group communication skills.
Students should understand more about what the Internet is, what a computer is, and how the Internet affects our daily lives.
Students should develop an improved understanding of the power of the Internet as a positive agent of change.
Students should use collaborative online tools to work in effective groups using good research skills to deliver a worthwhile presentation.
Students describe ways that greater speed, detail and precision in processing information is possible because of computation.
Outcomes
Student computer usage for this lesson is: required
Teacher Resources
Student Resources:
Crowdsourcing Resources:
Instruct students to think about the following questions and journal about their thoughts. Afterwards, have them pair up and share their answers with each other. (See slide 2 of the presentation in the lesson folder: "Unit 1 lesson 2 LIGHT".)
(Use the Unit 1 Lesson 2 LIGHT presentation for this activity.)
(See Research and Collaboration Assessment Rubric.) Since this is the first significant collaborative activity of the course, discuss team dynamics and norms, communication skills and conflict resolution, in addition to an overview of what online collaborative tools can be used. Review the collaborate assessment rubric together and creatively introduce the good interpersonal skills you expect (see below)
If possible, act out examples of how NOT to use good interpersonal skills. ( a cooperative student with some drama experience can be a great partner to plan in advance with)
Assign students to investigate and use online collaboration tools to:
Part 1 - Preliminary research and collaborative development of pecha kuchas on the impact of the Internet (20 min)
Part 2 - Preliminary presentations/sharing and feedback (10 min)
Part 3 - Research and collaborative development of complete pecha kucha presentations on the impact of the Internet (35 min and homework / out-of-class time as desired)
(See the self and group assessments and "Pecha Kucha Student Handout" in the lesson folder.)
Discuss how computation facilitates the creation and modification of computational artifacts with enhanced detail and precision.
Teachers are encouraged to have students present single slides and give each other feedback before continuing to do the research for the complete presentations.
Students are working in collaborative teams for the first time, use reflections and dialog to assess how effectively they are using online tools to collaborate and how they are resolving issues working as a team.
Students create a presentation while working in groups and using online collaboration tools. A rubric will be used to assess the student group presentations along with self-reflections.