MARTA SPEARS, AMS

7^TH MATH

Can’t Live Without it!

Academic:

• Students will explore and analyze graphs from a set of data.
• Students will explore the results of a nationwide survey about the

• Students will research an invention, which is important to them, and write a paragraph about how the lack of this invention would impact their lives.

Pre-Requisite: Technology Skills: Access the Internet, have some knowledge of various types of graphs.

Materials: Access to the Internet, URL: http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/press2.html, student activity sheet

Warm-ups: Ask students what life would be like without the telephone, radio, and home computer. Read and discuss the following remarks that were made when these inventions were created.

• "There is no reason anyone would want one of these in their home." (a statement about the home computer made in 1977 by the president of Digital Equipment Corporation)
• "This has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." (a remark about the invention of the telephone from a Western Union internal memo in 1876)
• "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" (an investor’s comment about the radio made in 1920)

Tell students they will learn more about people’s attitudes towards inventions in this activity.

Lesson Plan:

1. Give each student a copy of the Can’t Live Without It! Activity sheet. Students begin the activity by reading a summary of the results of a nationwide survey about inventions.
2. Students choose the most appropriate graph for the on-line data and select one set of data to graph.

1. How many people participated in the survey? More than 1,000
2. Which invention was considered most important? Automobile
3. Which two inventions did most people say they couldn’t live without? Automobile, light bulb
4. What two major corporations were started with an invention? Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard
5. Could the data in the bar graph titled "Most Important Invention" be shown in a circle graph? Why or why not? Yes, because the data represents parts of a whole.
6. Could the data in the bar graph titled "Inventions Could Not Live Without" be shown in a circle graph? Why or why not? No, because the data does not represent parts of a whole.
7. Which type of graph is most appropriate for the data in the tables with these titles?

"Most Important Invention – Men versus Women" - double bar graph

"Most Important Invention – By age" - histogram

"Inventions Could Not Live Without – Men versus Women" - double bar graph

"Inventions Could Not Live Without – By Age" - histogram

8. Make a graph of the data in one of the tables. If you choose either the table titled "Most Important Invention – By Age" or the table titled "Inventions Could Not Live Without – By Age," graph data for only one invention. Check students’ graphs.

• Answers on student activity sheet
• Graphs constructed by students
• Paragraphs can be evaluated according to any style of writing teacher desires (power paragraphs, persuasive, 6 traits).

STUDENTS ACTIVITY SHEETS MAY BE DOWNLOADED AND PRINTED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB SITE: http://ww.educast.com/plans/68/68masas.html