Spreading The News: Around The Corner, Around The World

Introductory Level

High School

Introduction and Background

Communication has been an important part of daily life since prehistoric times. Early systems like Egyptian hieroglyphics seem light years away from modern communication systems that use satellites and computers to spread the news across distances of thousands of miles. Communication refers to sending a message from one point or person to another. While most of our communication is with other humans we also communicate with animals and machines.

The study of communication systems is an important part of technology education. As educators we read literature to learn to use new pieces of equipment, use the Internet to access information and chat with others around the world and watch television news programs to learn what is happening at that very moment. Communication systems that use computers are becoming indispensable for more and more workers every day.

This Thematic Design Unit (TDU) includes Discovery Activities that provide students with important background information related to mathematics, science and technology. Choose Discovery Activities that are appropriate for your situation and have students share what they learned with the entire class. Next engage students in the Design/Build/Apply Activity. This major activity will allow students to apply knowledge gained during the Discovery Activities and be creative as they use the problem solving process to develop unique solutions to a challenging problem.

Goals

• Use formalized design/problem solving processes
• Use graphic and electronic communication systems
• Select materials and process for communication systems
• Explain how communication systems affect people

Design/Build/Apply Problem Statement

Technology education has been called one of our nation's best kept secrets. This can be changed with the help of our students.

Design and implement a multimedia campaign to inform the public about the technology education program in your school and encourage students to sign up for technology education classes. Plan to use a variety of media such as television, radio, newsmagazine, brochures, posters and a Web Site Home Page.

Newsmagazine

Activity Goal: to develop writing and desktop publishing skills. The finished newsmagazine should promote the technology education program by showcasing the writing and technical skills of students.

Procedure:

Organize students into writing and production teams. Each student should be engaged in the writing of articles for the magazine and in preparation of the finished magazine.

Writing Team Responsibilities:

1. Meet to select a team leader. Use the brainstorming process to make a list of possible articles. These ideas may help you get started:

• Interview an expert in the communication technology field
• Write a "how to" article
• Review a book or piece of computer software related to communication technology
• Test and compare several brands of new products such as digital cameras or portable CD players
• Develop a game or puzzle based on communication related vocabulary
• Write a news story describing an important school or community event

2. Each student should complete two writing assignments. The teacher will establish due dates and the team leader will make sure that all work is completed on schedule.

3. Each team should use peer review to suggest possible revisions before an article is submitted to the teacher for final editing.

4. Approved articles should be word processed using a program compatible with the publishing software being used.

Production Team Responsibilities

1. Have students to work in teams in areas such as:

• designing the cover
• page layout
• preparing camera ready copy
• proofreading
• printing
• distribution

2. If appropriate have students sell advertising space to defray publication costs.

3. Again team leaders should make sure that individual and team assignments are properly completed and on schedule.

Assessment

Assessment criteria should be clear and involve student self-assessment, team assessment and teacher judgment. The teacher may want to prepare a checklist of areas that will be judged including:

• quality of the articles
• layout and design
• grammar, spelling, punctuation

At the completion of the project have students write an essay describing what they learned, how their team functioned and explaining what they would do differently if given a chance to participate in the project again in the future. After the newsmagazine is distributed, feedback from faculty and students ca be used to improve future issues

Technology, Science and Mathematics Connections

Technology

• design process
• systems and subsystems
• selecting materials and processes

Science

• analog
• digital
• magnetism
• microwaves
• persistence of vision
• light
• optics
• decibel
• electromagnetic spectrum

Mathematics

• binary code
• linear measurement
• time measurement
• scaling
• charting and graphing

Discovery Activities

1. Careers

Activity Goal: To have students explore sources of career related information.

Procedure: Have students select a communication related career and investigate it using the school library, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (book or CD version) and the Internet to learn more about a career of interest. Prepare a report that describes the education needed to enter the field (including desired high school courses), nature of the work, expected earnings and sources of additional information.

2. Internet

Activity Goal: Use hands on activity to introduce students to the Internet.

Procedure: Students can learn to use the Internet before they go on-line by using a CD that has permanently recorded actual sites from interesting areas of the Internet.

Recommended Source: Educators Internet CD Club, 1866 Colonial Village Lane, Lancaster, PA 17601-6704, toll-free: (888)ICD-CLUB.

3. Writing a News Story

Activity Goal: To learn how to write a news story.

News stories are written using a style called the "inverted pyramid." The beginning of a news story should cover essential information by providing answers to these questions: Who?, What?, When?, Where? and Why? These questions are usually referred to as the five W's. Many stories also answer the question, "how"? This information is usually provided in the first or second paragraph of a news story. The balance of the article provides additional details which may be of interest to the reader.

Procedure:

1. Select a story from a current newspaper.
2. Read the aloud and then provide a copy to each student.
3. Have students go back over the story and record the following:
   1. Who is the story about?
   2. What happened?
   3. Why did it happen?
   4. When did the event occur?
   5. Where did this take place?
4. Follow-up with a discussion to review the style used to write news stories.
5. For homework have students write a news story about a school or community event.
6. Provide appropriate feedback to prepare students to work on the class newsmagazine.

4. Digital Photography

Activity Goal: To introduce students to digital photography.

Digital cameras make it easy to include photographs in class publications or on a WWW home page. A few models are available in the $350 range and good selection is available if your budget is $500 to $1000.

Digital cameras don't use film but they look and feel a lot like conventional cameras. They have a lens, shutter and viewfinder. Most models have a light sensor to adjust shutter speed and aperture and a built-in flash.

After you press the shutter it can take 1-2 seconds until the picture is taken. This means you need to ask live subjects to remain still a little longer than usual. After taking six or more pictures, depending on the model you will need to unload stored images to your computer before being able to take additional pictures. Digital cameras use a special chip called a charged-coupled device (CCD). When you press the shutter, light from your subject hits the CCD to generate the digital information (0's and 1's) that a computer uses.

To transfer information from the camera you connect a cable to your computer. Some cameras have removable memory cards that are inserted into a computer's PC Card slot. Software included with the camera is used to transfer and edit the images.

Teacher Hints:

1. Demonstrate how to use the digital camera. Emphasize safe handling and the need to ask people to remain still for about two seconds after the shutter is pressed.
2. Demonstrate transferring images from the camera to the computer.
3. Show students how to use the software provided with the camera to edit and save the photos so they can be used in class publications.
4. Require students to make a list of the pictures they plan to take as well as a description of the photos they actually took.

Student Activity:

1. Work with your team members to develop a list of ways photos can be used to promote the technology education program in your school.
2. Discuss your team's ideas and propose a specific project to your teacher.
3. After the project is approved, read the camera's instruction manual. Be sure to handle the camera with care and follow operating instructions.
4. Take the photos.
5. View the pictures by using the proper software to download the photos using several features of the software.
6. Get teacher approval and use selected images in your technology education promotional project.
7. Cooperative Learning

Activity Goal: To introduce students to the think-pair-share technique. Research indicates that students are more motivated to learn and understand and retain more material when they work together cooperatively.

Procedure: Ask each student to individually consider (think) a communication related problem and record his/her thoughts in written and sketch form. Next form design teams of two (pair). Each member explains their ideas. Later each member contributes to group discussion (share).

6. Impact of Communication Systems

Activity Goal: To enable students to recognize some of the important impacts of communication systems

Procedure: Have students design and conduct a survey to determine how much television their classmates watch. Graph the data. Also, have students interview adults to determine their viewing habits and compare this data to the previous study. Have several students interview older adults to find out what they did for entertainment before television. Use the information gathered to write a story for the newsmagazine.

7. Learn/Teach/Learn

Activity Goal: To learn to follow instructions and share knowledge

Procedure: Have students work in pairs to read the operating manual of an unfamiliar piece of audio/video equipment. Instruct them to follow directions to learn to use the equipment. Later have each team demonstrate proper use of the equipment to the entire class.

8. Field Trip - To a television station, newspaper or other communication facility.

Activity Goal: To motivate students and provide a common experience.

Procedure: Arrange field trips to give students ideas for their communication projects. While at the site students should gather information by taking notes, making sketches and using a still or video camera if possible. Follow up with discussion to relate the visit to class activities.

9. Create a Web Page

Activity Goal: To create a Web Page for your school

Procedure: The Internet can be a unique way to promote technology education. Most Internet Service Providers offer members enough space to set up a site of 25 or more pages. Have students use the brainstorming process to decide what the site should include. Look at web pages already developed by other schools through Classroom Connect's home page. Classroom Connect will also provide space on their server for schools without a server to put their web page.

Web-authoring programs such as Hot Dog Professional, World Wide Web Weaver, Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0, Adobe Pagemill, or Microsoft's FrontPage make it relatively easy to design Web pages. These programs are similar to desktop publishing programs in the way they allow you to place text and images where you want, the necessary HTML codes are then generated by the programs.

10. Portfolios

Activity Goal: Show and explain exemplary design portfolios.

Procedure: Explain that students will use portfolios to record their thoughts and actions throughout the TDU. Students should begin their portfolio at the very beginning of the TDU and add to it as they complete the Discovery Activities and work on their Design/Build/Apply project. Explain the role of the portfolio during the assessment process.

Assessment

Utilize a variety of authentic assessment techniques including portfolios, student presentations, teacher observations, oral exams and self evaluation. Each student will be asked to maintain a design portfolio. Materials developed cooperatively should be copied so that each student has a complete portfolio. Include all relevant information and drawings developed during the Discovery Activities and the major Design/Build/Apply Activity.

Teacher observation data can include student performance individually and as a member of the problem solving team. Develop an appropriate scoring guide for student self evaluation and teacher use.

Additional Ideas

Plan an implement a similar multimedia campaign for another school or community event.

Resources

Craig, Annabel and Rosney, Cliff, The Usborne Science Encyclopedia, EDC Publishing, Tulsa, OK, 1994

Soman, Stuart and Swernofsky, Neal, Experience Technology: Communication, Transportation, Production, Biotechnology, Second Edition, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1997.

Technology: Science & Math In Action, Book Two, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1995.

Thode, Brad and Thode, Terry, TV and Radio Technology, Thompson Learning Tools, Cincinnati, OH 1996.