Section 2.3

Learning Goals

• • Students will construct a business case study of the business that owns their selected innovation.

  • IOC-1.C.1:  Internet access varies between socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic characteristics, as well as between countries.

  • IOC-1.C.2: The “digital divide” refers to differing access to computing devices and the Internet, based on socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic characteristics.

  • IOC-1.C.3: The digital divide can affect both groups and individuals.

  • IOC-1.C.4: The digital divide raises issues of equity, access, and influence, both globally and locally.

  • IOC-1.C.5: The digital divide is affected by the actions of individuals, organizations, and governments.

  • IOC-1.D: Students will identify and describe bias in the selected innovation. 

  • IOC-1.F.10:  The digital divide raises ethical concerns around computing. 

  • CRD-1.C: Demonstrate effective interpersonal skills during collaboration. 

  • CRD-2.E.4: Students will actively engage in a  development process that is incremental by breaking down the problem into smaller pieces.

  • Programming plug in:

    • AAP-3.A: Students will write statements to call procedures. 

    • AAP-3.A: Students will determine the result or effect of a procedure call.

    • AAP-3.D: Students will select appropriate libraries or existing code segments to use in creating new programs. 

    • Students will determine and design an appropriate method or approach to achieve the purpose. (P1.B)

Objectives and General Description

The objectives for this lesson is to have the students read a detailed project description and analyze the requirements need to successfully complete the project.  In addition, students will be critically evaluating what they know how to do for the project and what they need to learn how to do.  For the project itself, students will be critically researching and analyzing a business and its product as well as writing a program that creates music for the company.  The challenge consists of three components:  a detailed business case study, an individual essay and a recruitment artifact.  The digital recruitment artifact is a video, brochure, poster that the company might use to recruit new employees.  This artifact will incorporate music that the team has created using EarSketch, an online coding platform.

For this ARC challenge, the projects are divided.  

• Sprint 1 will focus on the Business Case Study and the individual impact analysis essays.  

• Sprint 2 will focus on the Recruitment artifact and EarSketch programming plugin.

Student teams will use the AGILE approach again to complete this challenge.  Students will be given the specs for the project components and will be asked to analyze what they know how to do, what they need to learn how to do and where to find the skills/knowledge that they need.  They will do this individually and then coordinate as a team to complete an overall project requirements analysis.  This will lead to the first Sprint assignment.  There will be two sprints for this project.  A reminder that students will often want to rush through the planning process.  The planning process is an industry skill and is vitally important to a successful, collaborative project.  Students are also utilizing computational thinking skills and practices by designing a collaborative solution.

 Unit 2 ARC Challenge Materials

*Note:  There are items in the project descriptions that the students don't know yet.  For example...what is a case study?  What is the digital divide?   What is a recruitment artifact?  How do you code in EarSketch?  Students will probably experience some nervousness when they see the project descriptions.  This is part of a growth mindset.  Reassure them that the projects are manageable and you will help them learn the content/skills to create a successful project.  The CAPACiTY approach involves giving them a project before they have all the skills.  They learn to identify what they need to know or learn and then also learn how to find this information or learn the skill.  This approach facilitates independent learning and builds confidence.  Many students may not have experience this previously and will need more support from the teacher.  Other students will be ready to take the challenge and run with it.  Teachers should be prepared to offer the level of support that the students need. 

Activities

Some teachers may want to print all the challenge documents and create binders for each team.  Here is a link to all documents with a table of contents for this ARC challenge.

Activity 2.3.1 (Budget 5-10 minutes)

1. This activity will be an individual activity.  

2. Explain that each team will be creating business case study, writing individual impact analysis essays and creating a recruitment artifact that incorporates custom coded music.   Give each student access to the Unit 2 ARC Challenge Materials and have them read files 1 - 5.

3. Give each student copies of the KNW chart which is file 6.   

4. Students should read the project descriptions thoroughly and complete a KNW for each project.  

Activity 2.3.2 (budget 2 hours)

1. For this ARC challenge, have the teams focus on the Business Case Study and Individual Essay for Sprint 1.  Sprint 2 will take care of the recruitment artifact and the EarSketch programming pluggin.  

2. Student teams complete their plan for Sprint #1 which focuses just on the Business Case Study.  Project managers for this challenge should not be students who were project managers for the Unit 1 challenge.

3.  Watch this video from Freethink, "The Digital Divide, Explained."  Have students take notes on the Digital Divide worksheet.  If you would like to have a debate in class, you can read this article, "Is Digital Divide an Ethical Issue?"

4. If you have time, watch this video "Eliminating the Digital Divide" from PBS that describes an initiative that a superintendent at one of the poorest schools in the nation put into place to eliminate the Digital Divide.

5. Teams work on the challenge in class.  The teacher should be moving around, supporting each team when necessary.  

Activity 2.3.3 (Budget 50 minutes OR Assign as Out of Class Assignment)

1. Students write the individual impact analysis essays.  The teacher can decide if the essays are to be written outside of class or within a class period.

2. After all students have completed their essays, each team should read the essays from all of their members.  They should select an essay to go on their website .  Essays can be revised before publishing to the site.  The essays could be placed on the educational resources page or students can make a new page called "Impact Analysis".

Resources

• 2.3.1: ARC Challenge Materials (all documents for this challenge) 

• 2.3.2: The Digital Divide, Explained (teacher resource)

• 2.3.2: The Digital Divide, Explained worksheet (student resource)

• 2.3.2: Is Digital Divide an Ethical Issue? (student resource)

• 2.3.2 Eliminating the Digital Divide from PBS (teacher resource)