Impact of Computing Recurring Assignment

Summary

Materials

Instructional Activities and Classroom Assessments

1. Impact of Computing Share (40 minutes)
2. Voting (5 minutes)

Learning Objectives

• IOC-1.A Explain how an effect of a computing innovation can be both beneficial and harmful.
• IOC-1.B Explain how a computing innovation can have an impact beyond its intended purpose.
• Computational Thinking Practice 5.C Describe the impact of a computing innovation.

Essential Knowledge

• IOC-1.A.1 People create computing innovations.
• IOC-1.A.2 The way people complete tasks often changes to incorporate new computing innovations.
• IOC-1.A.3 Not every effect of a computing innovation is anticipated in advance.
• IOC-1.A.4 A single effect can be viewed as both beneficial and harmful by different people, or even by the same person.
• IOC-1.A.5 Advances in computing have generated and increased creativity in other fields, such as medicine, engineering, communications, and the arts.
• IOC-1.B.1 Computing innovations can be used in ways that their creators had not originally intended:
  • The World Wide Web was originally intended for rapid and easy exchange of information within the scientific community.
  • Targeted advertising is used to help businesses, but it can be misused at both individual and aggregate levels.
  • Machine learning and data mining have enabled innovation in medicine, business, and science, but information discovered in this way has also been used to discriminate against groups of individuals.
• IOC-1.B.2 Some of the ways computing innovations can be used may have a harmful impact on society, the economy, or culture.
• IOC-1.B.3 Responsible programmers try to consider the unintended ways their computing innovations can be used and the potential beneficial and harmful effects of these new uses.
• IOC-1.B.4 It is not possible for a programmer to consider all the ways a computing innovation can be used.
• IOC-1.B.5 Computing innovations have often had unintended beneficial effects by leading to advances in other fields.
• IOC-1.B.6 Rapid sharing of a program or running a program with a large number of users can result in significant impacts beyond the intended purpose or control of the programmer.

Details

1. Impact of Computing Share (40 minutes)

• Ask students to share the selection for this week and why they selected it.
• Students should share:
  • The computing innovation they have chosen.
  • The purpose/function of the computing innovation.
  • Its impact on the world.
  • The beneficial effects of the innovation.
  • The harmful effects of the innovation.
  • Their thoughts on whether they the effects were intended or unintended consequences of the computing innovation.

2. Voting (5 minutes)

• When everyone is finished sharing their selection, ask the students to vote on which computing innovation is the most important or noteworthy.
• To collect votes, you can use a Microsoft Forms survey or other electronic polling program, or simply have students nominate innovations and vote by raising their hands.