BBC E-mail: Computer mouse inventor dies at 88

** Computer mouse inventor dies at 88 **
The computer mouse's inventor, Doug Engelbart, who also developed early versions of email, word processing and the internet, dies aged 88.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/world-us-canada-23174052 >

50 Ways to Help the Planet

50 Ways to Help the Planet

Small actions x lots of people = Big Changes

Identify one change that you will promote.  Using Adobe Fireworks, you are going to create an animation to promote your small change to make a big change.  In your animation, you need to include:

• Why is it a problem / what's its negative impact on the planet?
• What is the small change / how do we do it?
• How the change will make a difference?

Think about the type of people you are trying to appeal to and make sure your animation targets them.

Healthy v Unhealthy

What changes are occurring within society to control the consumption of unhealthy products?

What are the benefits both to the individual & society of positive outcomes?

Review the news stories below, what do you think?

Viewpoint: Charging for eating, smoking & drinking costs

Huffington Post: NHS should charge for smoking, obesity & alcohol related illnesses

BBC: Rise in child obesity-related hospital admissions

Task:
Use Storify to create a persuasive piece about one of these areas, showing your opinion on them (this should be bias to what you think!).  Introduce the piece and ensure you have a summary/conclusion at the bottom.  Focus on the two questions at the top of the blog.

Publicise your piece to your blog when finished.

You can not connect to Facebook, but Twitter will work if you have an account - if not, let me know and I'll enter the General Studies account for you.

Here's an example of a Storify piece:

Health Education - Your opinion

Write a blog post with your opinions on health education.  Think about the following areas when you write the post:

• What should be included in schools health education?
• What ages should they be taught?
• How in depth should the education go?
• Should it be bias?
• How can we best educate?

This is your opinion, justify you reasons well - convince me that you are right!

Future Technology

Health Education - how far should it go?

Starter:  Health Education in School
In groups, list out all the different lessons you have had related to health education, what subjects covered these lessons?

Discussion:  Do schools go far enough?  What else should be included?

Task:  Write a brief scheme of work on what schools should cover in health education.  Upload to blog and share ideas with others.  SOW Template

Jamie Oliver: School food revolution

Task: Create a graphic resource that could be used to educate secondary school students on an area that you feel is important in this topic e.g. alcohol, diet, smoking, drugs

BBC E-mail: What is skeuomorphism?

Miss Squires saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

** What is skeuomorphism? **
Apple announced it would scrap the "traditional" look of its mobile apps which mimicked real world objects. This is "skeuomorphic" design.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/magazine-22840833 >

Greatest Technology Invention of the last 40 years?

What has been the greatest invention for technology in the last 40 years?  You decide!

Research the inventions for the last 40 years and identify which one YOU think is the greatest.

Create a promotional product to explain why this is the greatest invention, what impact has it had and how would people's lives be different without it?

Promotional products could include: a video, flyer, poster, podcast, animation etc.

Inventions of the 20th Century

Add the final product to your blogs.

EXT: What is the worst invention of the last 40 years and why?

History of the Internet in 4 minutes

Internet's Impact on Society

The Internet’s Impact On Society from rchuvt

Predicted internet usage

Make your own Infographic @ infogr.am

Thought-guided helicopter takes off

Researchers have harnessed the power of thought to guide a remote control helicopter through an obstacle course.

Read this article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22764978

Questions to consider

• How would this technological development have an impact on our lives?

• What would be the advantages and disadvantages of this technology?

Infographic: How Technology in Schools Has Changed Over Time

Can you imagine attending a school where whiteboards weren’t used,there were no handheld calculators, and headphones weren’t available? Travel back in time about 50-60 years, and that’s exactly what you’d get. This infographic takes a look at the changes of technology in school settings from the early 1900′s to present day.

BBC E-mail: Logging our lives with wearable tech

Miss Squires saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

** Logging our lives with wearable tech **
What can we learn from the data collected by the many wearable activity monitoring devices which are now entering the market? Rory Cellan-Jones explains.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/technology-22767096 >

The Internet Revolution

• How has the internet affected society both in terms of individual & mass usage?
• What are the advantages & disadvantages of this form of technology?
• What are the effects on lifestyle and communication skills?
• What's the future?

Internet Revolution

Internet Revolution

In the mid-90s, the ARPANET was transformed from military use to the peoples Internet. It has become such an integral part of our lives, bringing with it a fundamental change not only technological, but societal and epic in scope.

Internet Revolution video

Here are some questions for you to answer on your blog.

How has the internet affected society both in terms of individual and mass usage? 

How will the internet help to improve poorer countries?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this form of technology?

What do you think the internet will be like in the future?

What will we be studying?

Throughout the General Studies course, we will be exploring 4 main areas, these are:

• Politics and Economics
• Social and Ethics
• Science and Technology
• Arts and Culture

We will look at how material that covers these areas, from recent and up to date news stories, to organisations involved and how they work.  All relevant information and material will be posted to this blog to begin discussions and research building.

Got anything interesting to add, let your teacher know and they can blog it.