Guide Entry 99.07.04

Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

Technology at Home: An Increase in the Quality of Living Due to Electronic Inventions, by Jacqueline E. Porter

Guide Entry to 99.07.04:

I teach 6th, 7th and 8th grade self - contained education at East Rock Global Magnet. I often run into the problem of finding something on a level that my students can understand yet interesting enough to entice them to learn. Electricity is something that they should definitely learn about, given that it is essential for how they are accustomed to living. By relating electricity to their everyday life, I believe it will spark enough interest in them to willingly participate and gain some knowledge in the process.

In this unit I plan to explore electronic inventions that are directly related to the evolving of Technology At Home throughout the 20th century. I will look at household gadgets that use electricity, that students feel that they can't live without, such as: the telephone, refrigerator, television, stove, microwave, stereo, tape recorder, radio, vacuum cleaner, washer and dryer.

All of these products exist because of the discovery of electricity. Exploring the basic fundamentals of electricity, I plan to give middle school students a good understanding of how electricity works. We will examine life before electricity. List some possible motivation that pushed for its discovery. Once discovered, what people made electric inventions that led to the contributions that enhanced people living condition and their continued improvement through technology?

(Recommended for Science, grades 5-8.)

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