 
The purpose of this cross-curriculum
unit is to introduce students to inventions. Some of the main questions
that helped us to focus our unit are:
-
What are some of
the most important inventions of the 20th century?
-
How have these
inventions impacted society?
-
What would life
be like without these inventions?
-
If you could invent
something to make your life easier, what would it be?
Each lesson in
this unit incorporates a variety of Michigan Content Standards in Technology,
Social Studies, Science and Language Arts as well as National Educational
Techology Standards for Students. The
Exhibits section of this portfolio contains
each lesson plan in its entirety, including the National and State Content
Standards they meet as well as assessment pieces. Students will be
introduced to this topic through a variety of experiences, both inside
and outside of the classroom. They will explore inventions through
fiction and nonfiction texts during guided reading. They will participate
in a district planned field trip to the Henry Ford Estate to learn more
about this internationally renowned inventor who has such strong ties to
the Dearborn area.
Lesson
Overviews
Lesson
1
Students will
activate prior knowledge by using Kidspiration to construct a web.
They will write "Inventions" in the center circle. Circles around
the web will include the names of various inventions.
Additional
circles linked to the name of each invention may include the following:
name of inventor, year of invention, use of invention, impact on society.
Students will
choose three inventions from their web and rank them, according to interest,
using the numbers 1-3. They will then be grouped together to research
a specific invention. Mixed abilities and common interests will both
be taken into account when grouping students.
Lesson
2
Students will
work in groups to conduct further research, using multimedia such as the
Internet, books and CD roms.
Lesson
3
Students
will use their research to create a PowerPoint presentation about the invention,
the inventor, and the impact the invention has had on society.
Lesson
4
Students will
use a digital video camera to record a narrative piece introducing their
presentation.
Lesson
5
Students will
work individually to create their own invention using Paint and Microsoft
Word. They may improve upon the invention they have studied or they
may create something new. This will be added to their PowerPoint
presentation.
 
|
Overview 
