This morning I was approached by a teacher (Megan from HLY) whose students have been asked to draw split portraits of themselves, half their current age, and half when they are older. Megan asked if we could use some software to age the students, and …
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Lessons & Units
Half Old Portrait
Gadget Shop
Gadget Shop Spreadsheet (XLSX)
Students could undertake this task individually, or in small groups, but my preference is to have them do it as a whole class, with the hope of promoting more discussion and passion about what is valuable, and what is not. The following instructions, included in the spreadsheet, should guide students in completing the spreadsheet:
- Decide on the 10 criteria you wish to judge each device on, or use the ones included. The criteria must be the same for all devices. An example would be "Screen Size".
- Assign each criteria a weight according to it's importance. Total weight must be equal to 100.
- Choose 9 devices (3 laptops, 3 tablets, 3 phones) and enter their names into the column headers (e.g. Laptop 1 name goes into "L1 Name")
- Research the nine devices online, and enter details of the specs for each criteria under the "Detail" column for that device.
- Assign a "Score" for each criteria (from 0 up to 10), based on the information entered into the "Detail" column.
- Once the table is complete, the highest score total for each product type should be the best product.
Representation
This lesson used to be part of a unit which was dropped from the Year 7-9 ICT Course due to time constraints. However, the content is so powerful that I decided to include it, not as a unit, but as a single lesson. The aim …
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Misleading Images
This lesson aims to introduce students to the concept of misleading images, and to try and engender in students a certain skepticism when interacting with media. This lesson could potentially be used in a range of subjects including ICT, Media, History, Theory of Knowledge, PSHE/Pastoral …
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Eyes Wide Shut v2
This is rewrite of a unit which I really loved running, but somehow never knew how to assess. I was so unhappy with the assessment that I actually stopped teaching it, despite really wanting to keep it running. The addition of the Self Assessment Guide…
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Consultancy
One of my main aims as a teacher is to get students ready to do real work for real clients. In a sense, then, this unit represents a graduation of my students: after three years on the Year 7-9 ICT Course they are now ready …
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Where In Hong Kong?
It is amazing how one thing leads to another, and all of a sudden you have a crazy idea for a unit of work on your hands. I have recently been watching some video of old Hong Kong, and chatting about the footage with …
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Eyes Wide Shut
High Tech Stuff
I just put the finishing touches on a new ICT unit looking into the past, present and future of ICT, and how technology made us the species we are today. My aim is to get students away from the idea that high-tech is the only …
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Programming 101
I designed this unit with the aim of introducing young students to the fundamentals of programming, in the hope of helping them to view programming as a discipline built on logic and sequential processing. Theory is kept to a minimum, with students asked to learn …
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