Introduction
Design & Technologies - Technologies in Society
Created by Jill Wood for a year 7 or 8 class.
Have you ever wondered where the idea of notepads came from? For over 500 years paper had always been loose sheets. In 1902, Tasmania, J.A Birchall, a man that worked in a shop selling paper, got the idea that he could cut the sheets in half, put cardboard on the bottom and glue the stack together along the top. This became the world's first notepad!
You have just been given a Government Grant to set up a 'Aussie Inventions' Exhibition that will be touring around the schools of Australia. It will be housed in a big bus that can park at schools and students can come on board, see the displays and contribute their ideas and inventions.
Task
You will have 3 weeks to complete this webquest.
In this task you will need to work in pairs.
Each pair are responsible for creating one of the displays in the 'Aussie Invention' bus. The classroom will become the bus and other classes will be invited to come and experience and interact with the displays.
Choose an invention created by an Australian from the list. Each group must make sure they choose a different invention to the other groups.
Find out lots of information about the invention and inventor.
What benefits has this invention brought to people?
Are there any problems this invention has created? For example; the making of it in factories causes pollution.
Do you think this invention can be improved?
Do you think the long term benefits of this invention outweigh the disadvantages?
Design and make your display. You could have a powerpoint presentation, a model, a display with real items showing how the invention has progressed, a poster, a game, an activity, a video such as a documentary or movie, a drama presentation such as a skit or puppet show, a song that could be performed, an Iphone app that investigates the invention.