STUDENT STANDARDS - EXAMPLES

While the Standards and Performance Indicators give us, as educators, a broad overview for how to help students learn technology, it is very vague until you see how it relates to actual projects. I have started by providing two examples below, but I hope to grow this to more examples in the future.

Example #1 - Website Comparison Project

The objective for this project is for students to compare websites to learn more about what makes a "good" website. This can be in regards to design, interactivity, credibility, readability, etc. When I teach this project, I have students work in teams to find five websites in a related field like music, sports or a hobby. From there, they compare what they consider is the best and worst site of the set. To end the project, we look at some of the sites the students found and then we do a brainstorming session on what makes a "good" website. Students will just shout out things that make a good website and we write them all down on the board.

This is a great introductory lesson to a Web Design class.

Standards Addressed - (1) Basic Operations and Concepts, (4) Technology Communications Tools, (5) Technology Research Tools

You can download the Site Comparison Worksheet here.

 

Example #2 - Let's Rip Some Paper!

The objective for this project is to have students learn more about the power of numbers, especially exponential growth. First, have students determine the depth of one piece of paper. This can be done by looking at a ream of paper (which is 500 sheets) and determining that height and then dividing by 500. Since a ream of paper is about 2 inches, one sheet of paper is about 0.004 inches. Now, have the students rip the paper in half. Then, put the stack of two papers together and rip the entire stack in half again. They can keep going until they can't really rip anymore because of the size. So, the question is - What if we rip the stack 20 times? How high do you think that stack will be? The estimates will be varied, but even the best student will think in it only a few feet. The reality is that with the doubling effect, it grows to almost 350 feet high!

This lab is a great integration of technology in math. This problem is very hard to figure out with just a calculator. There are just too many calculations for the students to do. But, add in the spreadsheet, and, suddenly, it is a simple assignment. This assignment can be used as an introduction to spreadsheets and how the formulas make the answer easy to determine.

Standards Addressed - (1) Basic Operations and Concepts, (3) Technology Productivity Tools, (5) Technology Research Tools, (6) Technology and Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Tools

You can download the Let's Rip Some Paper spreadsheet here as an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with the formulas to see or here as a PDF.