Time: 20-30 minutes
Discussion: what is a technology?
- solicit answers and ideas
Activity: draw a picture of a technology that you have used
(after a few minutes:)
- share pictures
- hold up pictures
- who sees a technology they’ve used?
- how do we think that technology got invented?
- did it get invented one day by one person, or by a bunch of people?
- did it get invented just all of a sudden or did it take a long time and a lot of work?
- did it change over time?
- do new technologies always work right?
- they “malfunction”
- when the technology you drew malfunctions, what might happen?
Discussion: what is not a technology?
- are these technologies?:
- phones
- cars
- light bulbs
- dogs
- stars
- trees
- pencils
- shoes
- books
- secret codes
- letters
- languages
- cooking recipes
- water
- chocolate
- technologies are:
- things people invented, because they needed them
- a technology doesn’t need to be related to electricity and screens, it can be anything we invent that we want to be useful
- …but not everything we make is a technology:
- a song is not a technology, but a way to record a song is a technology
- art is not a technology, but paintbrushes and paints are
- a cookie is not a technology, but a recipe for cookies is
Discusson: the purpose of technologies
- what is the purpose of the technologies listed above, or technologies that students named?
- for example:
- shoes are a technology to keep our feet protected and warm
- language is a technology so that we can tell each other things, make plans together, help each other, warn each other of danger
- recipes are a technology that let us build up what we know about cooking good food
Activity: draw a technology that doesn’t exist yet
- draw something you might like to see get invented in the future (after a few minutes:)
- share pictures
- hold up pictures
- who sees a technology they would like to try?
- what would happen if they malfunction?
Conclusion: “Great malfunction!”
Explain to students that:
- this is going to be a class about technology
- that means we’re using new inventions that didn’t exist a few years ago
Ask:
- do people expect everything is going to go exactly how we planned? (No!)
Explain:
- if you do something and it doesn’t quite work right, don’t be sad!
- the things we make with new technology don’t work perfectly because we’re trying new things
- malfunctions can be:
- frustrating, but also…
- surprising
- interesting
- even funny!
- we can learn from every malfunction.
- some of the best inventions ever have come because something didn’t work right
Motto:
- “Great malfunction! What can we learn from it?”