In this chapter, you have investigated how choices and decisions play a role in the design of technology. In this Evaluate activity, Selling Technology, you will design a new technology and consider the decisions you would make for that product. How would your technology be better than something that is already available? Why should people use your new product? (See figure 4-15.)
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Prepare your technology notebook for the start of a new activity.
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In the "Doing Technology" chapter, you learned that a technology is anything that humans use to solve problems. Your task in this Evaluate activity is to create a technology that will help people solve a weather-related problem. Read the following guidelines to help you think of an idea:
- Your technology should be something that does not already exist.
- Your technology can be based on something that already exists, but you need to improve it in some way.
- Your technology needs to solve a problem.
- You will not actually build your technology, so you can consider materials that are not in your classroom.
- Your technology must have more than one part. For example, it cannot simply be one piece of cloth.
Draw a picture of your product in your technology notebook. Make sure you label the parts.
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Write a television commercial for your product. Your commercial should be informative as well as entertaining. In your commercial, you need to do the following:
- Identify the weather event for which your product will be useful.
- Explain how your product solves a problem.
- Explain why it is an example of a technology.
- Describe the benefit of your product to people. Why should people use it?
- Identify the costs of your product.
- Explain why your product is better than anything else currently available.
Activity Overview
In the Evaluate activity, Selling Technology, students will apply what they have learned to design a technology to solve a weather-related problem. They will then write a script for a television commercial to sell the technology as a product. In the commercial, students must discuss both the benefits and the costs related to their designs.
Before You Teach
Materials
none
As You Teach
Outcomes and Indicators of Success
By the end of this activity, students will use their understanding about technology and design to develop a product that will solve a weather-related problem.
They will demonstrate their understanding by
- identifying the problem to be solved
- explaining how the product (technology) will solve the problem
- describing the benefits and costs related to the design of the product
- creating a script for a television commercial to sell the product.
Strategies
Getting Started
It may be helpful to briefly recap each of the previous activities in this chapter so that students will have a better understanding of what they will do in this activity. Students might also take a few minutes to review this chapter’s material in their technology notebooks.
Process and Procedure
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Students should set up their technology notebooks for a new activity.
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Allow time for students to think of ideas for a technology that will help solve a weather-related problem. Students will not actually build the product, so they do not need to be limited by the availability of materials. They may benefit from discussing their preliminary ideas with a partner.
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Decide whether you would like students to work individually or with a partner in this activity. They should begin by drawing a picture of the technology in their technology notebooks. They should use labels to describe the features that are unique and essential to the technology.
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Step 4 provides some guidelines that students will use to write the script for a television commercial to advertise their products. If time permits, students could present their commercials to the class. Be sure to let them know whether they should write out a script for their commercials or if they will be presenting the commercial to the class. Tell them how much time they have for their presentations if they will be presenting. You may want to allow some time for them to practice to make sure they stay within the time limit.