Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, first cellular telephone, 1983, original cost $3995

We expect our phones to do everything for us today: make calls, stream television and video, play music, play games, take and send pictures, surf the Internet, etc. The more things that a cellphone can do, and faster, the more marketable it is considered.

But how do you market something to people who may not be familiar with the technology that’s being sold to them? How do you convince someone that they need the newest, hottest thing?

In this activity, students will flex their creativity and persuasiveness skills to try and convince people from different eras to buy their technology.

Guess the Tech: Slips of paper with one of the following pieces of modern technology: smartphone, iPod touch, flat-screen television, laptop computer, AirTag, (electronic) tablet, DVD/Blu-ray disc, refrigerator, etc.

Guess the Time Period: Slips of paper with one of the following years on it: 2000 BC, 100 AD, 1500 AD, 1800, 1920, 1950, 1990, 2000

1.      Depending on the number of paper slips, have students work alone or in small groups

2.      The rest of the class will be living in 1500 AD. The presenting students will have to “sell” their device to the rest of the class without using its name, only describing it as best they can in terms a person from that time period would understand.

3.      The audience has to guess what technology is being “sold” to them

1.      Similar to “Guess the Tech,” but instead of slips of paper with technology, each group gets a different time period and has to tailor their pitch to what they think people from that specific period would understand (i.e. a person from 1950 would recognize a TV, but not someone from 2000 BC, but neither would recognize a flat screen)

2.      Other students in the class must figure out what time period they, the audience, are living in

·        Remember, people living then might not understand what radio waves, etc. are, so what else could you compare it to? 

·        What kinds of inventions were already available that might help make it clear?

Standards for Future Sight