Education Standards
Using Digital Tools-6th Grade
Using Digital Tools for a Purpose & How Computers Work- grade 6
Overview
This Digital Citizenship unit was created by the Snohomish School District. This strand in the unit focuses on: How Computers Work & Using Digital Tools for a Purpose.
Using Digital Tools for a Purpose & How Computers Work
Overview
This Digital Citizenship unit was created by the Snohomish School District. This strand in the unit focuses on: How Computers Work & Using Digital Tools for a Purpose.
Grade
Sixth grade
Duration
Two Lessons, 20 minutes each
Standards and Learning Objectives
Washington State Ed Tech Standards
- 1.a. Students articulate personal learning goals, select and manage appropriate technologies to achieve them, and reflect on their successes and areas of improvement in working toward their goals.
- 1.b. Students identify and develop online networks within school policy, and customize their learning environments in ways that support their learning, in collaboration with an educator.
- 1.c. Students actively seek performance feedback from people, including teachers, and from functionalities embedded in digital tools to improve their learning process, and they select technology to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
- 1.d. Students are able to navigate a variety of technologies and transfer their knowledge and skills to learn how to use new technologies.
- 3.a. Students demonstrate and practice the ability to effectively utilize research strategies to locate appropriate digital resources in support of their learning.
- 5.a. Students practice defining problems to solve by computing for data analysis, modeling or algorithmic thinking.
English Language Arts
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.
Washington State Computer Science Standards
- 1A-01: Select and operate appropriate software to perform a variety of tasks, and recognize that users have different needs and preferences for the technology they use.
- 1A-03: Describe basic hardware and software problems using accurate terminology.
Lesson One: How Computers Work & Coding
Materials
- Links to videos below
- Assigned laptops
- Account names and passwords
- Headphones
Formative Assessment
Observe students during the discussion and Kahoot. It is recommended that you make a copy of the Kahoot for your own Kahoot account so that you can keep track of student scoring.
Procedure:
How Computers Work Videos (3-4 minutes) Show the following videos to students
- How Computer Memory Works: Kanawat Senanan, TED-Ed, May 2016
- GCF Computer Basics, Inside a Computer, GCFLearnFree.org, September 2020
Review Vocabulary Mentioned in Videos (5-10 minutes)
- Latency: The time it takes to process a command
- Motherboard: Large circuit board containing a lot of important parts
- CPU: Central Processing Unit- The brain of the computer
- Heat Sink: Draws heat away from the processor
- RAM: Random Access Memory, otherwise known as short term memory
- Hard Drive: Long Term Data Storage, for memory even when the computer is turned off
- Power Supply Unit: Takes power from the wall outlet and sends it out to all the parts
- BITS: Binary Digits, the way a computer stores information in 1’s and 0’s
- Degrade: When computer data slowly breaks apart until it isn’t usable.
- Expansion Slots: Places where you can plug in upgrades to your computer
Activity: Play Kahoot (10 minutes)
- Play either the following Kahoot or Blooket to review the vocabulary from the videos:
Coding Games Recommended for Sixth grade
- The following coding games will need to be previewed so that you are able to demo each one for the students. These can be played now if time permits, or used during Coding Week in December. Disney Infinity Lab has an intro video you can play for students.
Lesson Two: Using an Application for a Purpose-CultureGrams & Sway
Materials
- Assigned laptops
- Account names and passwords
- Headphones
Formative Assessment
Students will begin making a Sway with a focus on a country, state, or part of the world.
Procedure:
Preparation (before class arrives)
- You may want to prepare an example Sway to show students. This is optional.
Video & Sway Introduction (5 minutes)
- For Students, By Students-Sway, SMO Consulting Inc, November 2015 (Length: 3:32 mins)
- Demonstrate how to get to Sway through HelloID, Office 365, and looking for the Sway icon along the left side.
- You may want to briefly go through the steps from the video again.
Intro to CultureGrams (5-10 minutes)
- Demonstrate how to get to CultureGrams, either through the ProQuest app on HelloID, or using a school specific link if you have one.
- Do a quick demonstration of how to use the CultureGrams site, making sure to cover the following:
- How to find a specific country or state (depending on what focus you’ve chosen)
- How to navigate the article once you find it, making sure to point out all the navigational links along the left side of the screen that will take students to further pieces of the article.
- Make sure to point out that the play button is available in the top right for students to have the computer read the article to them if they would like.
- You may also want to point out and explain how to use the navigational links along the top, especially the links to: Videos, Recipes, and Flags
Exploration Time (10-15 minutes)
- Tell students they will be choosing a country or state (your choice, or work with what teachers are doing) to create a Sway.
- Give students time to begin a new Sway and begin research on CultureGrams.