Unit 13: People in IT

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This unit discusses influential IT people and how they helped change the world.

Did you know? The following activities can be customized as desired by the teacher or school pedagogue.

Basic activities (computer-graded)

Vocabulary Builder Activity

Students will learn the following key terms and phrases:

Reading Activity: People in IT: True Innovators

Students will be able to correctly answer true/false questions after reading and listening to topical short articles and dialogs featuring topical vocabulary.

It seems like nowadays we use computers for nearly everything: working, shopping, banking, communicating, learning new things, playing games, listening to music, watching videos, and more. It’s hard to even imagine life without our modern hardware and digital services! Yes, the modern world is fantastic, but have you ever stopped to think about where all this amazing technology came from? Who… Continue

Multiple Choice Activity

Students will be able to select the best match between unit terms and their definitions.

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Listening Comprehension Activity

Students will be able to listen to short audio clips in English and then spell them correctly.

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Spelling and Recognition

Students will be able to identify and spell a vocabulary term correctly given only the definition.

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Advanced activities (optionally teacher-graded)

Speaking Practice Activity

Students will be able to speak and record 5 example sentences from the unit vocabulary and then submit them for grading by the classroom teacher. If no teacher is available or desired, then the students will be shown good examples of other students' work.

All modern computers owe a debt to George Boole's algebraic calculations.

Gordon Moore donated $600 million to Caltech in 2001, which is perhaps the largest gift ever to an institution of higher education.

In 1947 while working away on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University, a moth got stuck in the circuitry and thus the term "computer bug" was coined.

John Warner Backus was famous in computer circles for inventing FORTRAN, as well as his formal language definition called the Backus-Naur form (BNF).

Steve Jobs was known for making high quality computers which were fashionable and extremely usable.

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Writing Practice Activity

Students will write a short essay to be graded by the teacher. If no teacher is available or desired, then the student is shown previous examples of other writings by students.

Pick any person from this reading and write a short essay on their life. How do they inspire you?

Will you ever be considered a famous or great IT person? Write why or why not.

Pick any IT person NOT mentioned in this reading and write a short essay on their life. How do they inspire you?

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