FamilyConsumerSciences.com » Consumerism

Emerging Technology Project

M.Sandoval — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:00:50 +0000

Who will learn more you or your students? The verdict is still out with this lesson on emerging technology. Students work in groups to research emerging technologies and give a formal presentation to the class. This lesson is not only fun but informative and helps students with their research and presentation skills.

Time Frame: 2 blocks

Objective

Students will evaluate the pros and cons of technology on society and explore the newest technological advances.

Set

Watch a day made of glass video clip. If you can’t use YouTube here is a link to the video on Corning’s website.

Materials

Computer lab
Computer & Projector

Instruction

Put students in groups, hand out project instructions. Give students about 10 minutes to decide on the emerging technology they would like to research. Only one per class- no duplicates. Give students the rest of the class to research and put together their presentations.
Examples of emerging technology projects include: iPads, Kindle, Facebook, Twitter, Mobile Wallet, RFID, BlueTooth, Qcodes, APPS, teleconference, etc.
You may also want to go over how to properly cite research sources. Noodletools has a great free software for citing sources in MLA format.

Activities

Have each group present their emerging technology project.

Attachments

Emerging technology Project Instructions (Word)

Closure

Why is it important to keep up with the latest trends in technology?

Websites

GizMag

Similar Lessons

Print PDF

Subway Economics

M.Sandoval — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:00:26 +0000

This lesson follows a case study of a busy couple that is challenged by one of their coworker’s to figure out whether it is cheaper to make sandwiches or buy them from Subway. Students get a chance to apply their critical thinking & problem solving skills to a practical problem as well as get a chance to learn basic math in Excel.

Time Frame: 1 block

Set

Ask your students how much lunch costs them everyday. Is there a price difference between brown bag lunches and buying it from the cafeteria?

Materials

Instruction

If you have a smart board you’ll definately want to set it up to walk through how to use Excel to do math. Don’t know how to use Excel? Click here for a tutorial – it’s easy!
Read through the case/problem with the class.
Depending on the level and brightness of your class you may want to walk through the basic problem solving steps asked in question #1 on the Subway Economics Worksheet.
You may also want to assign students a partner. (optional)

Activities

Students will work on completing the worksheet using the internet and Excel.

Extensions

You can also have your students figure out if it is cheaper to eat at your school’s cafeteria or make the equivalent product at home and bring it for lunch.

Closure

What did you find was cheaper for this couple? Were you surprised? Why or why not?
Does anyone work at Subway? How does Subway keep its costs down?
Is eating out always economical?
What other factors are we not considering in this price comparison? (Opportunity Cost of Time)

Attachments

Websites

Print PDF

Small Appliance Cooking Assignment

M.Sandoval — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:14:23 +0000

My life skills students actually came up with this lesson. This particular class happened to be a class full of guys and they convinced me that simple cooking skills were something that they wanted learn before they graduate. Of course they also loved to eat…thus the birth of this lesson–cooking with small appliances!

Time Frame: 3- 1.5hr blocks depending on the number of student presentations

Objective

Students will demonstrate how to make a simple recipe using only small kitchen appliances.

Set

Give a stellar demonstration of this assignment with a recipe of your choice on the day you introduce it so they know what you are expecting.
Suggested Set Demonstration: Bruschetta- using a food processor and microwave oven to toast the baguette.

Materials

Amazon.com Widgets

Background for Teachers

I taught this lesson in a regular classroom- not the culinary room so you can imagine that it takes some planning ahead of time to make it successful! The way I worked around the room situation is by assigning student’s presentations by appliance day. So all the students doing a microwave lesson went on the same day. I placed my appliances on a Rubbermaid Heavy Duty Cart and wheeled them to the room. I also brought a supply of extra things students might have forgotten like bowls, utensils, can opener, measuring cups/spoons, etc.
Things like blenders, food processors, grills, & griddles all need to be washed between uses. Make sure you account for the extra time it takes to wash appliances on those presentation days.
Suggested Toaster Oven Recipes: English muffin pizzas, bagel bites, quesadillas
Suggested Food Processor Recipes: guacamole, hummus, salsa, bean dip
Suggested Blender Recipes: smoothies, milkshakes
Suggested Crock Pot Recipes: chili, fried apples, meatballs, artichoke dip, soup
Suggested Griddle Recipes: pancakes, bacon & eggs
Suggested Microwave Recipes: oatmeal, baked apple, scrambled eggs

Instruction

Go over the directions for the assignment on the first day. If you have time you can have your students go to the library, computer lab or look through cook books to find their recipes.

Activities

Day 1: Look for a recipe & get teacher approval. Sign up for a presentation day.
Days 2 & 3:Recipe Presentations

Extensions

This lesson is a good way to also talk about nutrition. You can have your students analyze the recipe that they chose and determine how healthy it is or how many servings from each of the categories of the food pyramid it represents. You can also have your students analyze the nutritional density of the recipe by entering the ingredients into a computer program or website like www.fitday.com. Fitday and other programs like it will tell you how many calories, grams of fat, vitamins and minerals are in the recipe.
You can also have your students grade each others presentations. This helps students stay focused on the presentation at hand and to better their presentations because they know the criterion.

Closure

What are some things to keep in mind when operating a microwave?
What are some safety precautions when working with small appliances?
What is one thing that you learned today that you will use in the future?

Assessment

See Assignment Rubric

Attachments

Small Appliance Cooking Assignment Directions & Rubric (Word)

Websites

Similar Lesson Plans

Print PDF

Interactive Entrepreneurship

M.Sandoval — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:28:29 +0000

Johnny Money: An Entrepreneurial Experience

Teach your students about entrepreneurship through a free online interactive game sponsored by the Young Entrepreneur Foundation. The game allows students to start a fictitious retail store. After set up is complete students make business decisions on advertising, donating to local charities, managing their employees, operating costs, inventory control, paying bills, taking out loans, etc. There are also surprises thrown their way such as on the job injuries and natural disasters. Throughout the game students will become familiar with monthly reports such as a balance sheet and cash flow statements. The game is scored and students compete against each other.

Teachers can check in on student’s progress through class reports and base class discussion off monthly reports. The teacher’s manual offers a list of discussion topics to coincide with the game so students can further connect the game to the real world experiences of a business man or woman. Some sample questions include, “if offered fewer working hours in order to keep your job, would you accept?” “Did anything occur during the simulation that you could not control? How did you decide to move forward during those events?”

Websites:

Johnny Money
Start-Up Junkies: If you have time in class I highly suggest showing an episode or two of this show produced by Mojo. Hulu.com allows you to watch full episodes for free. As the name implies the show follows a start up company through the beginnings of business and explores topics like venture capitalism, marketing strategies, sales strategies, public relations, etc.
Dog and Pony: Hulu.com also airs free episodes of BNET’s interviews with entrepreneurs. They are short clips all under 10 minutes perfect for a lesson introduction or closing to a class.

Similar Lesson Plans:

Entrepreneurship

Similar Products:

Go Venture Educational Games & Simulations

Print PDF

Personal Finance Resources

M.Sandoval — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:27:24 +0000

High School Financial Literacy Curriculum

NEFE High School Financial Planning Program

Junior Achievement: A place where students can find out information on choosing a college, learning about planning a business, finding a career, planning finances, and paying for college. The center is packed full of financial calculators, worksheets, glossaries, articles, etc.

Middle School Financial Literacy Curriculum

Junior Achievement: A place where students can find out information on choosing a college, learning about planning a business, finding a career, planning finances, and paying for college. The center is packed full of financial calculators, worksheets, glossaries, articles, etc.

Financial Simulators

Personal Finance Simulator: type in important information about your current or future income and the simulator will tell you if your income exceeds your expenses. It is pretty thorough asking for entries on student loans, credit cards, taxes, social security, savings, house expenses, car expenses, and salary.

Financial Games

The Stock Market Game: This is an online game where students are given a hypothetical $100,000 to invest in the stock market. Students compete against other students via an online program that allows students to buy and sell stocks according to their price on wall street. Students compete against teams from their state or region. Some states offer prizes to the students who have the most money in their portfolio at the end of the semester.

Real Game: The game’s highly-interactive exercises are designed to identify connections between school subjects and work roles. Your students will have fun as they learn about adult life roles in the context of their own career and educational planning. The game can now be played online but can also be purchased as a CD. There are separate games for grades 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12.

Financial Literacy Awards

National Financial Literacy Challenge: “The President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy recently launched the National Financial Literacy Challenge in the same spirit as the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge – a fun approach to personal growth and competition. The Challenge is a fun activity that motivates students to become educated about personal money management with recognition and prizes for top performers.The Challenge is free and will test the financial literacy levels of America’s high school students, ages 13-18. The challenge is open to high school classrooms as well as after-school non-profit community organizations.”

Helpful Educator Websites

Practical Money Skills.com: “With a diverse palette of resources – free lesson plans, profiles of inspiring teachers, discussion of relevant economic topics, and more – Practical Money Skills for Life hopes to empower educators, enable student learning, and ultimately support the financial literacy necessary for success today.”

Jump Start Coalition for Personal Finance: “Jump$tart is a national coalition of organizations dedicated to improving the financial literacy of kindergarten through college-age youth by providing advocacy, research, standards and educational resources.” There are lots of free resources and printouts.

Print PDF

Good Consumerism Resources

M.Sandoval — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Middle School

Cash a lesson on to spend the money they earn

Great Granny’s Will
This lesson is a great way for students to spend money responsibly and gives them some idea about the expenses necessary for living on their own.

Print PDF

Comparison Food Shopping: Buying Groceries for Two People for One Week

M.Sandoval — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:36:50 +0000

I found this lesson on the Columbia Education Center’s website and think that it is a great idea. Basically it is a challenge for students to make nutritious meals for $60 a week and to find all their pricing and food choices from local grocery store fliers. The students would cut out what they wanted to purchase and paste them on a food pyramid chart for each meal. The students would then total the amount of dollars spent and estimate the amount of calories consumed for each meal. Check out the lesson by following this link for more specific details.

Some additional ideas that I would add to this lesson is to allow the students to use online grocery stores like PeaPod or Shoprite for New England and Safeway for AZ, CA, MD, OR, VA, WA, and DC to find their grocery prices. The reason I suggest using online grocery stores is because students can see the serving size and nutrition labels for each item they want to purchase therefore they would not have to estimate the number of calories for each item. The grocery cart will also calculate how much their meals cost once they put them in the “basket” as well eliminating some math or you can just keep that to yourself. If you don’t have a grocery store that delivers in your state the trick is to use a zip code from a city that the store delivers to which will allow your students access.

You probably will want to discuss some tricks to grocery shopping frugally. Here are some websites that have good grocery shopping tips.

For Information on the Government’s Food Guide Pyramid:

Similar Lesson Plans