Magazine article Technology and Children
Ideas for Integrating Technology Education into Everyday Learning
Patterns: they're the unsung heroes of order, and they're everywhere! Your ability to recognize them gives you tire power to predict and make sense of the world around you. Without patterns, you couldn't even read these words! Use some of the ideas below to increase your student's awareness of patterns and how they fit in to the realm of technology.
* Compose a list of patterns that you can physically see in the classroom. Then discuss the patterns that you need to recognize in order to get to school. For example, did you have to read any signs, use a phone, predict what other people would do, speak to anyone?
* Brainstorm what it would be like if there were no patterns. How would we live our lives in a place where we couldn't predict anything? Write and illustrate a science fiction story depicting this situation.
* Pattern blocks are a visually exciting way to develop an understanding of patterns. Have the students create their own patterns, then rotate around the classroom, continuing another's pattern. Next, use a rhythmic and symbolic representation for each student's block pattern.
* Explore binary number patterns. Use adding machine tape to write a running strip of ascending binary numbers. Be sure to write the numbers directly underneath each other so the students can see and predict which numbers will come next. Discuss how computer programming is based on the binary system. …