Lesson 12.1: Community Helpers and Technology
Welcome, future world-changers! Today is Career Day in our tech lab. We’ll explore all the amazing jobs that use technology to help our community, and you’ll even get to be a journalist and interview a real tech professional.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
- Name at least 3 different jobs that use technology every day.
- Explain how technology helps people in our community do their jobs better.
- Ask thoughtful questions to a professional who works in the tech world.
- Connect your own passions to a cool future career!
Your Career Day Plan
Tech in Our Town (15 minutes)
- Let’s brainstorm all the “community helpers” who work in our town (doctors, librarians, artists, builders, etc.).
- Now, let’s be detectives: How do you think each of these people uses technology? (A librarian uses a computer database; a builder might use a laser level).
- We’ll create a big map to see how technology connects to almost every job imaginable!
Interview a Tech Pro! (20 minutes)
- It’s time to talk to a real-life tech expert!
- As a class, we’ll get to interview a special guest (in person or on video) who works in technology.
- Your job is to be a journalist. Before the interview, you’ll help brainstorm questions to ask them about their job and how they use computers.
What’s Your Tech Superpower? (12 minutes)
- After our interview, let’s think about our own futures.
- What problems in our school or community do you care about? (e.g., helping new students feel welcome, making the playground safer).
- Let’s brainstorm how a simple app or program could help solve one of those problems.
My Future in Tech (3 minutes)
- Let’s share one cool tech job we learned about today.
- Did any of the jobs connect with something you already love to do? (Maybe you love art and could be a digital animator!)
Your Journalist’s Toolkit
- Worksheets to help us map out “Tech in Our Town”
- A video chat setup for our special guest interview
- A list of the awesome questions we brainstorm as a class
- A place to write down your own “App for Good” ideas
How to Be a Star Journalist
- We’ll see how you connect different community jobs to the technology they use.
- Your participation in brainstorming questions for our guest will show your great thinking.
- The creativity of your “App for Good” idea will show how you’re starting to think like a real-world problem-solver!
New Tech Words to Master
- Professional: A person who has a job that requires special training or education.
- Tech Career: Any job that involves creating or using technology.
- Innovation: Coming up with new ideas or new ways of doing things.
- Social Impact: The effect that an action or invention has on people and society. Using tech for good has a positive social impact!