lesson Description
From the Future accompanies the “Biological Evolution” science unit. This two-day lesson reinforces the engineering design cycle – Define, Develop, Optimize – through the story of Alejandra, a 14-year-old from far in the future. During a class field trip, Alejandra discovers “fossils” that are actually phones from different times in history, up to the smartphone of our day.
With Alejandra, students see how phone designs have evolved, or improved, over time – and how technological evolution is the same and different from biological evolution.
In the design challenge, students take the next step in the evolution of phone design: designing an app to help fifth-graders making the transition to sixth grade.
From the Future aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for MS-ETS1 Engineering Design.
Teacher's Guide
Download a PDF version of the Teacher's Guide here.
Quick Links to Resources: Dax's Phone
Dax's Conversation (Image) | Alejandra finds a text conversation on Dax’s smartphone. |
Soccer Club (Image) | Alejandra finds a map on Dax's smartphone. |
Confusing Cartoon (Image) | Alejandra finds a meme about high school on Dax’s smartphone. |
What's This? (Image) | Alejandra finds a meme about watching videos on Dax’s smartphone. |
Screen Time (Image) | Alejandra finds a record of screen time on Dax’s smartphone. |
HighSchool mApp (PDF) | Alejandra finds an app for navigating high school on Dax’s smartphone. |
Quick Links to Resources: The Timeline
Horse Chart (Image) | This chart shows the evolution of the horse. |
Alejandra's Timeline (Image) | Alejandra tries to put the phones in order. |
Phone Timeline (Image) | Cut out the phone images for students to sort. |
Timeline Clues (Image) | Use these clues to help put the phone images in order. |
Dot Timeline (PDF) | Give students a visual representation of the vary different evolutionary time spans of phones and horses. |
Quick Links to Resources: A Better App
Design Report (Image) | Students record their findings during the app design. |
App Sketch #1 (Image) | Students sketch app features on the templates. |
App Sketch #2 (Image) | Students sketch improved versions of their app features. |
Olivia (Image) | Olivia describes her worries about starting sixth grade. |
Skylar (Image) | Skylar describes her worries about starting sixth grade. |
Gabriel (Image) | Gabriel describes his worries about starting sixth grade. |
Jayden (Image) | Jayden describes his worries about starting sixth grade. |
Theodore (Image) | Theodore describes his worries about starting sixth grade. |
Camila (Image) | Camila describes her worries about starting sixth grade. |
App Sample (Image) | Students can see sample sketches of app features. |
Feedback Report (Image) | Students provide feedback about other teams' app designs. |