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Lesson 1: Problem Solving - Personal Innovations

Overview

This lesson is about getting students excited and connecting their own personal interests to computer science. Students are asked to share something they know a lot about and teach it to a small group. Groups make a “rapid” prototype of an innovative idea and share it. Students watch a brief video about computing innovations.

Purpose

This activity plants the initial seed for students to think about the ways in which they might be able to solve some problems relevant to their lives with technological innovations.

Agenda

Getting Started (10 min)

Activity (25 min)

Wrap-up (15 min)

Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Communicate with classmates about computing innovations in their lives.
  • Describe positive and negative effects of computing innovations.

Preparation

  • Procure post-its or paper and tape
  • Procure poster paper for sharing innovations
  • Queue up CS is Changing Everything video
  • Setup section in Code Studio for this course
  • Have student sign-up link ready to share

Links

Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.

For the Teacher

For the Students

Vocabulary

  • Innovation - A new or improved idea, device, product, etc, or the development thereof
  • Prototype - A first or early model of a product that allows you to test assumptions before developing a final version.

Support

Report a Bug

Teaching Guide

Getting Started (10 min)

What could you teach somebody?

Prompt:

"What’s something that you know a lot about? Something that you could teach somebody?"

  • This doesn’t have to be a subject in school - it very well might not be.
  • As a person, as an individual who is living and breathing in this world, there is something that you probably know a lot about - maybe you feel like you know more about than most people. What is that thing?

Teaching Tip

What you’re trying to do here is get students to state something that they are interested in, but also know a lot about - something they might have insights into.

A big part of students’ enthusiasm for sharing will come from your enthusiasm and genuine interest in getting to know them.

Students might need prodding: there is something that makes them interesting and unique. Something they like to do, have interest in, read about, have some expertise in, a hidden talent.

Give students 1 minute to write that thing down on a post-it and stick it on the wall

  • Note: putting name on the post-it is optional -- if you don’t have post-its, use note cards and tape, or scraps of paper. Anything that allows for these topics/areas of interest to be seen in one place.

Survey the post-its on the wall to see the diversity of responses, maybe invite students to do this as well.

Group introduction and share out

  • Take post-its and make groups of 4 that represent a diverse set of interests.

    • For example, grab: “video games”, “basketball”, “cooking”, “growing vegetables”

  • Once in groups, give each student 2 minutes to:

    • introduce themselves
    • explain the thing they know a lot about
    • teach the group something about it, or tell the group something interesting about it

  • You may want to set a timer and tell them when to switch.

Activity (25 min)

Students should remain in groups established during the getting started activity.

Identify impacts and prototype an innovation

Remarks

People seem to say that technology is all around us, that it affects everything we do. Is that true? Technological innovation is about recognizing a problem that needs to be solved, or recognizing something needs improving and then building a tool to solve it.

As a class we’re going to see how innovative we can be. We’re going to do something called “rapid prototyping.”

"Prototype" is a fancy word that means a preliminary sketch of an idea or model for something new. It’s the original drawing from which something real might be built or created.

Brainstorm Technological Innovation

Go around the group, and for each individual's area of interest:

  1. Identify some way that technology is used with, or affects that thing

  2. Make a suggestion for either:

    • a way that technology might be improved to make it better, faster, easier to use
    • a creative or innovative new technology might help solve some problem within that area, or at least make better?

Everyone in the group should make suggestions for any of the areas of interest at your table.

Teaching Tip

Keep things quick. If a group is worried about not being innovative enough, remind them that very small ideas can have big consequences. People once thought it was ridiculous that you would want to send a short text message to another person over a phone.

Alternatively, a group may have a great idea that they want to spend more time on. They can do that later. For now, just remind them it’s a rapid prototype.

Rapid Prototype one idea

As a group you have just brainstormed about the technology ideas at the table.

Now, come together and get excited about one of them.

As a group, nominate the idea you’ve discussed that you think would be the most interesting to everyone else in the class.

Start to sketch out that idea on a poster. Make a visual representation of your ideas.

  • Remember this is a rapid prototype. Just something to quickly convey the idea.
  • Give students a decent amount of time to work and sketch together.

Share Prototypes

Do a "Gallery Walk" or a whip around so that each student can see all of the other students' work.

  • Put prototype posters on the wall
  • Give students time to survey the various posters
  • Time permitting, ask an individual from each group to explain what the the thing is or what their innovation is.
  • If time is short, ask for one or two volunteers, or hand pick a poster or two for a student to explain.

Wrap-up (15 min)

Show Video - “Computer Science is Changing Everything”

Career Discussion

Introduce yourself and your career:

  • What do you work, what do you do, and what do you love most about your job?
  • What or who inspired you?
  • How did you get interested in computer science?
  • Did you have a mentor?
  • Share a story about how tech affects everyone

Ask the students questions and leave time for Q&A.

  • What jobs are they interested in, what are their favorite tech gadgets or apps, and how do they think they are built?
  • Do the students have any questions for you?