Objective: Students will research communication methods and experiment with communicating using various techniques. Students will learn:
communication techniques
research skills
role-playing
inventions and inventors
public speaking
evaluation
Teacher Prep Time 1 hour
Grouping -- Class -- Groups
Materials
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Video recorder & playback monitor
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Writing materials
ACTIVITY 1 Ask the class to brainstorm different ways people communicate and list them on the board. Discuss the list and, if applicable, add communication methods that are missing such as body language, art, etc.
Divide the class into groups of three or four students each. Ask each group to select a nonverbal communication method from the list. Assign each group a message to communicate to the other groups, and give them enough time to prepare a way to present the message using their method. Have each group present its message to the class as students interpret what is being communicated.
Videotape the presentations to play back during a discussion on effective communication. Through watching the video, determine the more successful ways to communicate and the methods that were least effective.
ACTIVITY 2 Introduce pioneers in communication such as Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Guglielmo Marconi. Talk about how their inventions and/or discoveries advanced communication and altered society. Each group is to research one of the pioneers and his or her contributions to the field of communication. Have each group write a brief report on its findings and present it to the rest of the class.
Have each group choose one of its members to portray the individual it researched. In front of the class, these students will hold a conversation between one another, discussing their individual's invention/discovery and acting as if they are in the time period in which they lived and developed the invention/discovery.
ACTIVITY 3 Have students brainstorm what might happen if a particular communication method were no longer available. Use the examples of cellular phones, the Internet, and radio.
In groups, have students select an actual communication device and create a lesson that teaches how it and all of its components function. Each group should create a test to give to the class after it presents its lesson. Use the test results to determine how effectively each group communicated its information.
English