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The Washington Post is running an article entitled, “The Tech
World’s Week of Buzz.” The subtitle states, “Gadget makers hit
annual shows, seeking hot-product status.”

The article explains, “The International Consumer Electronics
Show, celebrating its 40th year, is a vast showcase of everything
tech that's bringing an estimated 140,000 people to the Nevada
desert. By contrast, Macworld is a smaller-scale show that attracts
about 40,000 people, mostly Apple-related vendors and Apple
aficionados, to San Francisco.”
Convergence appears to be the word of the week at these
conferences.

Read the Article!!.


Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Tell your students to imagine that they could design a
    playground that kids 1,000 years from now will use. What
    kinds of things will the playground have? Why?
  • Consider inviting students to draw a picture of the
    future playground.

  • Tell your students to imagine that they could step through
    the television or computer screen to become part of a show
    or computer game. What show or game would they want to
    become part of? Why? What would they do as a part of the
    show or game?
  • Students could make up skits to answer these
    questions.

  • Ask your students to imagine that they could design a chair
    of the future, a chair that their grandchildren will use. How
    would the chair be different than the chairs that we have
    today? Why would they want the chair to be like this?
  • Students could either write sentences or dictate
    sentences describing the chair.

  • If your students could design a grocery store of the future
    what would it be like? How would it be different from a
    grocery store of today? Why?
  • Ask your students to ask this question to their
    parents. How do the parents' answers differ from
    their childrens'?



Discussion-Starters for Older Children

  • Vocabulary Terms to Discuss: Pilgrimage; Aficionados;
    Magnitude; Showcase

  • Pose: You are the Chief Executive Officer of a large
    technology company. Do you think that it’s important to
    participate in the International Consumer Electronics Show
    (CES)? Why/why not?
  • Students could write essays justifying the expense of
    participating in the CES to their board of directors.
    Students should recognize that even bosses
    sometimes have to justify their decisions.

  • Pose: Imagine that the Vice President of Marketing of
    Microsoft asked your advice as to how to most effectively
    market Microsoft products. What could Microsoft do to best
    publicize its products? Should the company’s marketing
    efforts differ from product to product? Why/why not?
  • Consider asking students to develop a commercial
    advertising a product of the future. These
    commercials might be vodcast.

  • Ask your students to imagine that somebody who died in
    1970 came back to life. What thoughts would they have as
    they saw the world in which we live today? Would they like
    the world? Why/why not?
  • Students could write a diary, or blog entry,
    pretending that they were the one who came back to
    life in 2007, after having died in 1970.

  • Consider viewing Bill Gates’ keynote presentation at the CES
    conference, HERE!!.
  • Students could make a list differentiating the facts
    spoken by Gates from his opinions.
The Future of Technology
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