Unit 0. Introduction
Revision Date: Jan 16, 2017 (Version 2.1.1)Summary: This optional lesson can be used as a brief preview to the course on the first day of class when teachers typically have many classroom administrative tasks to accomplish, but teachers also want to set the stage for the class. Students begin thinking about the influences of technology as they engage in a Think-Pair-Share strategy about the computing innovations that have impacted their lives. In addition, this is an opportunity to set beginning expectations about interacting with classmates in collaborative activities and to model writing in the content area.
Outcomes:
Overview:
Source: This lesson is adapted from Code.org (Unit 1 Lesson 00)
Innovation is an important theme of this course. Students will become more aware of how innovation in technology has affected their lives.
Student computer usage for this lesson is: none
Student journals, if they are ready. Otherwise, paper for students to write on.
This short activity can be used after any required first-day administrative duties.
Each lesson in the course will start out with a brief prompt for students to respond to in their journals. They will pair off to discuss their answers, then share their findings with the class.
If you have the journals ready, have students write the answer to this prompt in the journal: Identify technological innovations that you and/or your families use. (At LEAST four, how many can you name?)
If Clarification is Needed:
Note: Written communication is an important skill. This curriculum provides a variety of opportunities for students to develop the skills that they will need to perform well in the Performance Tasks.
Summarize the various ways that computing innovation has affected our lives. Assign the following homework.
Ask students to interview an adult and ask, "What computing innovation has had the most impact on your life? In what ways has your life been affected?"
Students will record the adult’s answer and compare and contrast the answer with their own original answer in a brief paragraph.
Optional Extension:
Suggest that students create timelines showing the years when the various innovations were invented or became available to consumers. (They could make their best guesses as a class and reorder the ideas on the board.)
Paragraph about the positive and negative impacts of the innovation that has had the most impact on the student's life in journal at the end of class.
Paragraph for homework that compares and contrasts an adult's answer to their own journal entry answer after conducting a discussion with an adult at home.
Unit 0. Introduction
Revision Date: Mar 12, 2017 (Version 2.1.1)Summary
Through presentations, videos, and discussion, students discover how technology has been changing and brainstorm ideas for how the next generation will have a different relationship with technology than the current generation. Students will also learn the relative measures of computer storage (KB, MB, etc.)
This is a prelude to the idea of big data and the impact of technology as well as an introductory opportunity to start to develop team norms, effective group participation and a respectful environment where every student is encouraged to contribute and share their perspective.
Outcomes
Overview
1. Introduction (5 min) - Students journal about the different relationships each generation has with technology.
2. Activities (40 min) - Students practice organizing by relative size and create posters to demonstrate learning.
3. Wrap-up (5 min) - Posters are shared with the class.
Student computer usage for this lesson is: none
Videos:
PowerPoints (in the Lesson Resources folder):
Students should have paper for taking notes. (If desired, use preprinted Information Age Notes, in the Lesson Resources folder)
Print out "Relative Measure Word Strips to cut" papers and "Measure Quantity Word Strips to cut" papers (in the Lesson Resources folder) and cut them into strips to give to students for the activity.
8 big sheets of big poster paper to place at the front of the room labeled:
Post-it notes for students
1. Journal: How were computers and technology different one generation ago?
2. Pair and share journal ideas, compile a class list. (Ideas you might suggest if they’re stuck: bigger, slower, less storage, less portable, not inside of so many other things, not as pervasive, less voice ability, less connection to the Internet, phones weren't very smart, more expensive, Previous generation: land lines, stand in one place when talking on the phone, separate cameras, internet via phone modem, no GPS, etc.)
3. Prompt students to come up with their own definition of what "1 generation ago" means. (Now a generation is considered to be about 25 years. A century ago it was about 20 years - from Ancestry.com)
{optional question for thought/discussion: Why were generations shorter a hundred years ago? ( don't tell them the answer, try to lead them to ask each other good questions to guide them to an answer: shorter lifespans, more death from disease, younger marriage age http://www.ancestry.com.au/learn/learningcenters/default.aspx?section=lib_Generation )}
4. Discuss the connections between what computing concepts are available and the communication, jobs and services that are available from one generation to the next.
Hand out mixed up relative measure papers (a document with strips to cut is in the Lesson Resources folder) to 8 students.
Ask them to try to line up by relative size at the front of the room to display the terms from smallest to largest. Ask if the class agrees, make changes by group vote. Don’t tell them if they're right yet. Tape or post the strips to the front wall.
Teacher Note: Be sure to get students' names and introduce them as part of the goal of developing a classroom community of learners. Continuously encourage positive social interactions.
Hand out the 8 papers with measured quantities (a document with strips to cut is in the Lesson Resources folder).
Ask those students to try to match themselves up with the relative measure papers. Give the class a chance to rearrange by group vote. Tape or post the strips to their relative measure paper.
Display the posters created by the class, share details and ideas from the posters. Have students journal or write a reflection on these key questions:
Additional Activities if Time Permits:
Instead of having students move to the front of the room to sort the paper strips into order, you could print a set for each group of 3-4 students and have them match and arrange them at their desks.
If students have a strong interest, or if you have extra time, use the ideas in "Extensions to the lesson on the Future of Technology" document located in the resources folder.
Self-checking exercise on identifying storage terms (KB, MB, etc.)
Assess group dynamics. Did everybody participate? Was communication positive within groups and respectful of the different needs and perspectives of group members?
Unit 0. Introduction
Revision Date: Mar 11, 2017 (Version 2.1.1)Summary: This lesson is a basic introduction to algorithms and the nature of intelligence. Students will play tic-tac-toe (noughts and crosses is the British version) between a “highly intelligent piece of paper” and a human. Students will explore how to create an algorithm and the concept of computer intelligence.
Outcomes
Overview
Source: This lesson is adapted from a lesson created by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary, University of London.
Student computer usage for this lesson is: none
A PowerPoint for this lesson is included in the Lesson Resources folder - IntelligentPaper.pptx and IntelligentPaper.pdf
Copies for student pairs of "intelligent paper directions" with tic-tac-toe directions on one side, and blank on the other - in the Lesson Resources folder - IntelligentPaperDirections.pdf
The wrap-up questions are available in the Lesson Resources folder as Questions To Consider.docx
Optional: a musical greeting card, a paper folded into a fortune teller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_fortune_teller), a page of equations
The Python program for the optional activity is located in the Lesson Resources Folder - TicTacToeAI.py
What could make a piece of paper intelligent? (Think-Pair-Share)
(Use IntelligentPaper.pptx in the Lesson Resources folder to help deliver this lesson.)
Challenge the students by saying that you have a piece of paper that is at least as smart as any human. (Show the blank side of the paper, don't tell the students yet, but it has directions on how to play tic-tac-toe on the back.) Ask if anybody believes that this is possible.
Show students examples of "smart papers," such as:
Encourage discussion and debate, prod students to argue their point for or against intelligence, and get them to develop their own criteria and definition for intelligence. Write the class definition and criteria on the board.
Tell the class that the paper has never lost a game: it has perfect intelligence.
Challenge students to play a game against the paper. The paper is peripherally challenged (it has no arms, and thus needs somebody to do its work for it). One person represents humankind, while the other person represents the paper. Play tic-tac-toe with a partner. The paper must begin the game.
Possible outcomes:
But, the paper WILL NOT LOSE.
Try letting humankind go first. (Wait and try it: The paper will lose. Why?)
Challenge students to write out detailed directions (an algorithm) that will never lose the game whether it goes first or second. Point out that algorithms are made by putting detailed steps in order (sequencing), making choices depending on the situation (selection) and repeating certain sections (iteration).
Students should use their new algorithm to play against each other. Follow the same model for the paper versus the human game.
Discuss:
Computers programs implement algorithms.
Computer programs carry out algorithms by controlling the computer memory, central processing unit, input and output. When we carried out our tic tac toe algorithm what did we do that corresponds to each computer component?
Memory:
Central Processing Unit:
Input:
Output:
Additional Possible Activities and Discussions Time Permitting:
See if students know what a CPU is. If not, define. [
CPU is the abbreviation for central processing unit or processor, the brains of the computer where most calculations take place.
Reflection: (written in journal or discussed as a class)
How is a computer CPU (processor) similar to/different from a human brain? (both process information, can use logic and math, can follow instructions; computers only do what they are told, can work without need of food or sleep, etc.)
A human only has 1 brain but a computer can have multiple CPUs. How could a computer with multiple processors (CPUs) divide up a task like playing tic-tac-toe? (This is a good optional exercise if there is extra time, to divide up what the steps are and see if any can be done in parallel to save time. example: one processor checks rows, one checks colums to see if there is a winner)
Have students write their own definitions for the four words at the end of the presentation:
(Use PyCharm or some other Python environment to show the TicTacToeAI.py program from the Lesson Resources folder.)
Assign homework for Lesson 1-1: Provide students a copy of the “Questions to Consider” in the resources folder and assign the reading:
Blown to Bits – Chapter 1, can be found here http://www.bitsbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/chapter1.pdf and is available in the lesson resources folder for Unit 0 Lesson 3.
Extension: If you have extra time, have a championship contest between one set of student-generated instructions and another, alternating who goes 1st and 2nd. You can work in groups of three, with one person acting as the judge if desired.
Vocabulary entries in journals from the end of the PowerPoint presentation
Group participation in interactive activity
Writeup about a more general solution