Grace Hopper Lesson Plan: Science, Technology, and Society

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Grace Hopper, and supports the standard of analyzing the role of scientists and inventors in technological advances. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of  projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students: How do humans communicate with computers to tell them what to do? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read aloud the description on the Grade Hopper topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “In Practice” or “Way Back When.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign the Grace Hopper 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 Grace Hopper 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: Create a talk-show style movie where you interview Grace Hopper about her life and innovations. 
  • Make-a-Map: Make a timeline sequencing the major events of Grace Hopper’s life, and their impact on society. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a meme representing Grace Hopper’s contributions to computer science.

More to Explore

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

Teacher Support Resources:

  

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.1, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.7