Get Ready and Go!

Integrated Lesson Ideas for Adult Learners

Created by Leecy Wise

for the Colorado Department of Education

Topic: How a Computer Mouse Works

(Taken from http://www.howstuffworks.com/mouse2.htm)

Pre-GED

Ideas for Two Consecutive Lessons on the Topic
Approximately two hours each.

An integrated lesson is one in which items are not taught in isolation but in relation to a project. In an integrated lesson, several learning preferences are also addressed to engage as many students as possible.

Objectives: When students complete this session, they will be able to…

v label common parts of a computer mouse.

v explain how each major part of a computer mouse operates to make mice work.

v disassemble and reassemble a mouse.

Academic Integration: (Critical thinking is required throughout the lesson.)

Math: converting metric and English measurements; measuring diameters; graphing points along X/Y axis

Reading: technical vocabulary building; finding main points and meaning.

Writing: summarizing; defining; explaining.

Grammar: punctuation and sentence structure.

Technology Integration: Self-directed Internet activities and computer word processing.

Websites:

http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/webmath/ - site menu options

http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/webmath/metric.html - metric conversion problem solver

http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/webmath/gpoints.html write x/y problems and solve them on-line

http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/webmath/geo_circle.html problem solvers for geometry

http://www.hoxie.org/math/geometry/circles.htm -definitions

http://www.hoxie.org/math/general/measures/conver.htm - explanations and exercises

http://www.hoxie.org/math/dict.htm - math dictionary

http://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/toc_vol2.shtm -circumference - lesson, exercises

Teaching Plan (Include strategies to integrate students with as many learning preferences and abilities as possible.)

Planning

v 1 mouse for each group of 2-3 students (Mice will be taken apart, so make sure to have mice for that purpose. Your lab may not appreciate students dissecting mice on their machines.)

v A thin screwdriver for each group of 2-3 students.

v 1 computer, with Internet connection and a word processor for every group of 2-3 students.

Teaching Plan I -

Activity	Notes
Introduce the topic	Tell a story about a problem you or someone has had operating a mouse. (A teacher in Dolores told me a good one. At the end of the year, she told the janitor that she had just spent the last hour cleaning all of the mice. He asked, “How many did you find?”
Find out what students know about computer mice.	Let them handle the mice and examine them.
Explain the learning activity clearly and let students ask questions.	Learning activity is detailed below.
Go to the Internet and show students how to find URL’s and navigate relevant sites in the learning activity.	Show them how to use URL addresses. Show them how to look up words and information in http://encarta.msn.com/ (http://dictionary.msn.com/ )
Explain how they will be assessed on what they learned in this lesson and distribute the rubric included below.	Rubric included below.
Let students carry out the learning activity and answer the questions in the Reading Review.	Reading Review included below.
Go over the questions listed below and work WITH the students in finding the solutions. Refer to the websites listed above to explain math challenges that face students. Give students several objects and have them come up with observations that apply the math they have just learned. Let students play with ideas.

Student Learning Activity (Include strategies to integrate students with as many learning preferences and abilities as possible.)

Instructions for students

Teacher notes

Go to the Internet and visit http://www.howstuffworks.com/mouse2.htm

Divide students into groups of 2-3 and make sure each group has a student that knows how to navigate the Internet. Otherwise, offer a teaching activity showing students how to access Internet sites.

Give students screwdrivers and let them disassemble several mice as they read so that they can follow the explanations better.

Read the article explaining how a mouse works.

Write down difficult vocabulary as you go.

Look up words at http://dictionary.msn.com/ and write definitions

Reread the article for meaning, discussing main points in preparations for answering questions in the Reading Review.

When students finish the Internet activity, give each group the Reading Review and ask them to answer the questions.

Part II

When students complete the activity in Part I, discuss the answers given by each group in the Reading Review.	Allow students to restate their answers in writing, correcting sentences on an overhead or blackboard. Discuss punctuation and sentence structure.
Ask one or more students to summarize how a mouse works. Ask others if anything was left out.
Provide a model of a one-paragraph summary for the lesson by using as many words from the students as possible.	Explain what a summary is. Read the summary with students, discussing punctuation, spelling and sentence structure.
Dictate the summary and have students write their final summary on a word processor and turn it in.

Questions to be answered with the instructor:

List the five major mouse components that translate hand motion into signals that a computer can use.

What is the approximate diameter of the ball in your mouse?

Draw a graph showing the point where X-3 intersects with Y+5.

Find the volume and weight of a computer mouse.

Convert the following English measures in the figures into metric measures.

Reading Review

Is a computer mouse a mechanical or electrical device?

Why is it important to know about X and Y directions to understand how a mouse works?

Look at the inside of a mouse and tell us about it.

What was hard to understand about the reading?

Rubric for the lesson

Internet Exercise

Item => Score	0	1	2	3
Internet Site	Could not do the exercise.	Found the site but did not read the material.	Found the site but had trouble using the information.	Found the site quickly and followed instructions easily.
Vocabulary Search	Could not do the exercise.	Looked up some words but had great difficulty	Looked up words but had trouble understanding meaning..	Looked up words and applied their meaning.
Reading	Could not do the exercise.	Had trouble reading the passage.	Read the passage but had difficulty understanding meaning.	Read the passage easily and understand how a mouse worked.
Object Application	Did not participate	Did not contribute ideas but participated and appeared to understand as others provided examples.	Contributed some ideas but had some difficulty with applications.	Contributed many ideas about how the math lessons learned could be applied to other objects.
Summarizing	Could not summarize and did not participate.	Summarized only the most basic points of the lesson or participated minimally.	Summarized the main points but had to have some help or participated occasionally.	Summarized the main points of the lesson without difficulty and participated as others attempted the exercise.
Word Process Summary	Document had major errors and was difficult to read.	The document had several formatting mistakes and several errors..	The document was reasonably “clean” but had a few errors.	The document was “clean” and error free.