Learning Technology at the Beach

Technology can be enjoyed at the beach in many ways. Whether it be talking on a cell phone, listening to a MP3 player or working on a laptop. Technologies have been designed for the beach such as the sand wheelchair and power generating windmills.

Foundations of Technology Systems Course Outline

Unit 1:  The History of Technology

  • Timeline on Major Technological Achievement
  • Publish a visual highlighting representative artifacts and processes from one of the technological time periods.
  • Create a graphic organizer for a selected technological development that identifies the social, cultural, political and economic impacts.

Unit 2: Relationships Among Technologies and Connections with Other Fields of Study

  • Research and develop a multimedia presentation on a selected 20th Century scientific advancement.
  • Complete “The Discovery of Neptune” vignette.

Unit 3:  Construction Technology

  • ProDeskTop for orthographic drawings.
  • Structure Webquest
  • Featherweight Challenge
  • Straw Tower
  • Bridge Building Ingenuity Challenge

Unit 4: Manufacturing Technologies

  • Research, design and fabricate a display depicting a primary manufacturing process.
  • Develop a concept map that illustrates the common attributes of an integrated manufacturing process.
  • Design and fabricate a three-dimensional model or display panel that illustrates the processing of materials.
  • The Design Process:  Transforming an Idea into a Final Product or System
    • “Can You Top This?”

Unit 5: Power and Energy

  • Design a web page on “Electrification and Quality of Life”
  • Research and oral report on automobile energy sources and attitudes toward energy use from 2000 to 2050.
  • Mousetrap Car Ingenuity Challenge

Unit 6: Engineering Design

  • Electrical Technology
    • Design a circuit
    • Cargo Ship Ingenuity Challenge
    • Cargo Airplane Ingenuity Challenge
    • “Motoring Along” Activity

Unit 7: Systems Thinking: “Putting It All Together”

  • Design a brochure on technologies “New Frontier – Nanotechnology”