WebQuests (ICT Integration)

Discovery and Change (Gr 7-9)

We have all invented imaginary tools, wondered about futuristic robots, or dreamed of a fascinating innovation that would change our lives. Many people would say that every learner is an inventor of sorts. In this section, learners discover how they can have a direct impact on future tools by exploring innovations from all eras, researching issues relevant to their daily lives in and out of school, and examining inventions and innovators from around the globe. Recognising the patterns in changes that lead to innovations in every field of human endeavor can be a fascinating discovery for learners.

To provide a historical perspective on the impact of past inventions, learners discover how tools have changed throughout human history. These discoveries also provide learners with insights into the ways earlier inventions have led to today’s explorations and innovations and create a framework for them to examine how tomorrow’s technology may evolve. Learners study inventors, their inventions, and the impact of those inventions on the innovator’s own era and on generations beyond.

The first project in this section is Project 4: Lasting Impressions. This project provides learners with the opportunity to recreate the past using the tools of modern technology. They research history’s innovators and the tools they created to discover the impact past inventions have on our lives. Learners will consider why some inventions created many years ago are still useful today while others have been discarded. They will create an advertising campaign to answer the question “Where would we be now if it wasn’t for _______ (an invention from the past)?” Learners create web pages, advertising flyers, and presentations as they retrace the history of innovation.

In Project 5: The Wireless School Debate, learners tackle an issue facing their own schools - whether or not wireless devices have a place in schools. The project focuses on how wireless technologies impact on the learners’ own education and determines if and how to defend the use of wireless devices and infrastructure to their school governing body who is threatening to eliminate wireless technologies from the school. Learners develop defense strategies and materials based on collaborative research, producing a presentation designed to present their position.

An international science fair is the setting for Project 6: Now Available - The Future. Learners learn about innovations created by young inventors around the world. They choose an invention, uncover research findings from its inception and development and prepare a series of commercial advertising products aimed at promoting the invention to the world. Learners predict the success or failure of future innovations based on what they have discovered about the success of past inventions and today’s technological advances.