Title:Designing Your Own Technology

Overview & Outcomes:

In Foundations/Awareness Lesson 4 the atlatl was used as a concrete example of a technology that impacted primitive societies. Few citizens experience the thrill of designing their own technology. This lesson gives students the opportunity to personally experience the role of inventor. In Foundations/Awareness Lesson 6 students examine the social implications of the technology they designed in this lesson.

This lesson helps learners:

• utilize their increased awareness and creative abilities in designing a technology.
• design a magazine advertisement to market that technology. (In a subsequent lesson, Foundations/Awareness Lesson 9, tradeoffs associated with these inventions is examined.)

The concept map found in Foundations/Awareness Lesson 1 shows model relationships among concepts Foundations/Awareness Lessons 1 through 7 plus 9 and 10 seek to develop.

Background Notes for the Teacher:

Content. This activity culminates the study of technology by requiring application of concept knowledge. Also examined will be the persuasive techniques commonly used in advertising.

Integration. Persuasive writing techniques might be introduced in an English/Language Arts lesson. The actual design lesson could be incorporated in an Art/Industrial Arts lesson.

Additional Teacher Reference. Invent America, 1501 Powhantan St. Dept. P, Alexandria, VA 22314

Materials:

For class.

1. Examples of magazine advertisements.
2. Art materials such as poster board, construction paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils, rulers, protractors, compasses, and any other art materials you wish to make available to your students.

For each student.

1. TECHNIQUES of Persuasion FACT SHEET

Preparation:

Days prior to lesson. Collect examples of magazine advertisements representing all methods of persuasion listed on the student worksheet. Gather art materials.

Day of lesson. Reproduce the necessary number of student worksheets.

Instructional Procedure: (2 Days, 40 minutes each)

1. Distribute TECHNIQUES OF PERSUASION FACT SHEET.
2. Using some of the examples you collected discuss the methods of persuasion listed on the worksheet.
3. Have class identify the persuasive techniques in the remaining advertisements.
4. Inform students that they will be given the next several days to design a piece of technology which could be used in one of the following:
   • The House of the Future
   • The Ideal Study Center
   • A Car of the Future
   • The Ideal School
   • The "Choremaster"
   • The Bank of the Future
   • An Even "Faster" Food Restaurant

   (You have the option of assigning design topics or allowing students to select their own topics.)

5. Require students to submit a written statement of their selection before the end of the class period.

Day 2. (40 minutes)

(The scheduling of Day 2 is flexible dependent upon students' completion of the project and your time constraints. This portion of the lesson, however, should be completed before The Lorax, Foundations/Awareness Lesson .)

1. Have students present their technologies in the form of an advertisement to the class. (A scoring rubric is provided should you choose to evaluate this activity. You may want to inform the students of the scoring criteria prior to their presentation.)
2. Exhibit designs in classroom. (Will be utilized in a later lesson.)

Assessment/Portfolio Items:

In addition to the optional scoring rubric, the following items may be included for assessment/portfolio items:

Journal Entry. "How does it feel to be an inventor of technology?"

Design Project. Technology Advertisement

How do advertisers persuade people to buy something? Here are a few ways:

1. Celebrity Testimonial. The ad uses important or famous people to "testify" about the product. These people say that the product is good, even though they may actually know nothing about the product. Example: A former star baseball player endorses a particular hair care product.

2. Transfer. A good-looking or successful person sells the product. You don't know this person, but the ad tries to get you to think that if you buy the product, you will be good-looking or successful, too. The ad hopes that you will "transfer" the good qualities of the person to the product, and then to yourself. Example: Beautiful women in shampoo and cosmetic ads.

3. Jump on the Bandwagon. The ad pretends that "everyone" is using the product. It tries to get you to jump on the "bandwagon" with everyone else and buy the product. Example: An ad shows people in different parts of the world all using the same long distance phone service.

4. Humor. The ad is funny. Since people enjoy laughing, the ad hopes that you remember feeling good when you see the product again. Example: The antics of a person spending a sleepless night on an uncomfortable mattress.

5. Statistical Evidence. The ad uses numbers and figures to impress you, even though it may leave out important information. Example: Eight out of ten doctors recommend using a certain painkiller, but you never know how the doctors were selected or what choices they were given when they recommended the product.

6. Stacking the Deck. The ad "stacks the cards" in favor of its product. It tells you only the good things about the product, and not the bad. Example: An ad shows people enjoying chewing tobacco, but it doesn't show them spitting out the tobacco in front of someone else, or going to the dentist, or getting sick.

7. "Just Us Plain Folks." The ad shows an ordinary person being interviewed about the product, and that person says they use it all the time. The ad hopes to persuade you that that person represents everybody else, even though the person is a paid actor. Example: A busy, working mother feeding her family a brand of microwave entree for dinner.

8. Catchy Slogans or Jingles. The ad repeats a certain phrase, or catchy tune hoping that you'll remember it when you're shopping and buy the product. The phrase may give you no information about the product, but you remember it because you've heard it so many times. Example: People in an ad are reminded by a bartender always to ask for the advertised beer by name, and not just "any light beer."

Points Awarded	Knowledge	Design/Production	Presentation
4	Identifies creative applications on new and established technology	Creative Use of New and Existing Technology	Demonstrates clear, informative and persuasive presentation skills
3	Identifies adequate applications on new and established technology	Adequate...	Adequate...
2	Identifies some applications on new and established technology	Some...	Some...
1	Identifies minimal applications on new and established technology	Minimal...	Minimal...

Click Here to go to Lesson 6: Designing Your Own Technology Revisited

This unit was produced by the editors listed on the masthead.