Alan Turing Lesson Plan: Science, Technology, and Society

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

NOTE TO EDUCATORS: The movie featured in this lesson plan contains a brief discussion of the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution in 1950s England, and a reference to suicide.

* Click to open and customize your own copy of the Alan Turing Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Alan Turing, and supports the standard that scientists and computer scientists are resilient in their endeavors and their work requires curiosity, ingenuity, and creativity. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of  projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Partner students and ask the following questions. Have them discuss their answers with each other:

  • How do people solve difficult problems?  
  • Why might it be important for scientists and computer scientists to be creative and imaginative?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read the description on the Alan Turing topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Theories,” “Careers,” “Plus/Minus,” or “Etc.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Alan Turing Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about Alan Turing while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Make a mini documentary about Alan Turing’s experience decoding Enigma, including the role creativity and imagination played in his work.
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying key character traits that Alan Turing possessed and how they helped him achieve his goals
  • Creative Coding: Code a newscast announcing Alan Turing’s machine cracking the Enigma code.

More to Explore

Time Zone X: Alan Turing: Place historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of technological innovators with these topics: Grace Hopper and Ada Lovelace.  

Teacher Support Resources:

 

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, 9-12, Alan Turing, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7