Answer the following questions on your own in your technology notebook.
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You probably have some new ideas about technology after completing this chapter. Describe a technology that you use often. Choose one that is not electronic, or cannot be plugged in. Explain how this item matches the definition of technology.
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Give an example of how a middle school student could do technology or engineering.
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In the introduction to this chapter, you read about the 5E Instructional Model. Now you have completed each phase: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Describe how your journey through the phases helped you understand how to do technology.
Answers to Reflect and Connect
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You probably have some new ideas about technology after completing this chapter. Describe a technology that you use often. Choose one that is not electronic, or cannot be plugged in. Explain how this item matches the definition of technology.
Research shows that students are more motivated to learn when they can relate the content to their own lives. This question serves that purpose by having students think about a technology that they use often. Because many of them will automatically think of items such as computers and cell phones, you should ask students to choose something that cannot be plugged in. This helps demonstrate their understanding of the definition of technology. Accept any answers as long as the item matches the definition of technology—expanding human limits to help people solve problems
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Give an example of how a middle school student could do technology or engineering.
A goal of the module is for students to understand that anyone can do technology. This question both relates technology to their own lives and emphasizes that they can do technology themselves. Students should describe a reasonable problem that a middle school student could solve. The problem may be something personal or related to their family, or it may be a community or an environmental problem.
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In the introduction to this chapter, you read about the 5E Instructional Model. Now you have completed each phase: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Describe how your journey through the phases helped you understand how to do technology.
Students should recognize how their ideas have built on one another throughout the chapter. They should have ideas about how this helps improve their learning. Have them review what they did in each phase and review the linking questions between each activity. (See the chapter organizer.) Students should be able to see how their ideas about doing technology were refined as they moved from first thinking about what technology is to learning about the processes of designing a technology to solve a human problem.