Download Student Activity Sheet(s) for printout in PDF Format
Overview
Students consider great communications inventions, including the Internet,
and assess advantages and disadvantages of each.
Objectives
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Give examples of communications inventions, including the Internet |
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Describe advantages and disadvantages of communication inventions
of the past and present |
ISTE® National Technology Standards
Site Preview
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No Internet site is used in this lesson. |
Online Resources
Materials
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Activity sheets (2) |
Introduce
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Play the "Telephone" game, allowing a message to be whispered from
student to student throughout the room. |
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Ask: How is this way of communicating
useful? (You can send a message to someone without shouting
it across the room.) How is it a problem? Guide
students to understand that in addition to the message becoming distorted
as it is passed along, it is not a practical means of communicating
over long distances, as it would require long lines of people standing
shoulder to shoulder. |
Teach 1
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Distribute Activity Sheet 1. |
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Ask: What communications
inventions do you see in the cartoon? (cell phone and cave
painting) Discuss how thousands of years actually separate cave painters
and people who use cell phones. |
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Have students read and discuss the rest of the page, sharing their
responses. |
Teach 2
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Distribute Activity Sheet 2. |
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Allow students to complete the page. Ask volunteers to share their
responses with the class. Guide students to consider the following
in their discussion:
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Cave painting advantages: The information
is protected from the weather and uses materials easily available.
Cave painting disadvantages: Because
cave painters used no words and very few symbols it was difficult
to communicate complicated ideas; people had to come to the
cave to see the message.
Newspapers advantages: can distribute
information to many people at a time and can be carried around
easily; does not require electrical power source to read
Newspapers disadvantages: not available
at any time; you might have to wait until the next day to get
more information
Cell phone advantages: wireless; can
be used to communicate instantaneously to anyone with a telephone;
can be carried around
Cell phone disadvantages: doesn't work
everywhere; batteries may lose power; calls can be expensive
Television advantages: can communicate
to millions of people at the same time; news is frequently updated;
easy to use; includes sound, pictures, and text; relatively
inexpensive to buy and use
Television disadvantages: most cannot
be carried around; currently can only receive information-not
send it; requires electrical power source
Internet advantages: For a single fee,
one can send and receive E-mail, chat with many people at once,
play online games, do research, and make purchases from home.
Internet disadvantages: Computers are
expensive to buy and require an electrical power source;they
are difficult to use for people who cannot type or see; can't
hear what people are saying or see their faces during chat;
downloading can be slow; streaming video is choppy. |
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Close
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Ask: What is an example of a communications invention? |
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Ask: What are its advantages and disadvantages? |
Extend (online)
The following activity can be added for students who completed this lesson
in a previous grade.
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Have students use the search sites from the lesson titled, "Choosing
a Search Site," to find out about other communications inventions.
They can print the information they find and compile a class list
of inventions. |
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Great Communicators