How Stuff Works

Details

Activity Description

How Stuff Works is a Web site that tells you just that - how stuff works. It contains thousands of topics including these main categories:

• Adventure
• Auto
• Culture: Geography, History, People
• Entertainment
• Health: Diseases & Conditions, Medicine (including First Aid & Medications), Wellness (including Food & Nutrition, Diet & Fitness)
• Home & Garden: Real Estate (including home buying)
• Lifestyles: Cooking, Family (including Education, Holidays, Household)
• Money: Business (including Jobs), Economics (including Currency, Money & Ethcs, the Stock Market), Jobs, Personal Finance (including Budgeting & Saving, Taxes, Online Banking, Credit, Banking)
• Science: Engineering, Physical Science (including Chemistry), Innovation, Environmental Science
• Tech: Computers, Internet, Electronics

Check out the videos quizzes, and games as well. The reading level is intermediate to high so you may have to use it for group or class discussion.

A suggested activity would be to show The Computer Tour Video (Example Web Site, above) and have students fill out the study guide (Example Document, above) How Things Work Computers.

Preparation

1. Preview the Example Web Site Computer Tour and the rest of the site to use in a future lesson. Or select another topic if you prefer for a class discussion/writing.
2. Print Example Document, How Things Work: Computers (above) for students to fill out as a study guide in watching the video.

How-To

1. Show the Web site and the great variety of articles, quizzes, and videos available.
2. Hand out the study guide, Example Document, How Things Work: Computers (above). Instruct students to fill it out as they watch the video.
3. Play the video, Computer Tour, for students to watch.
4. Discuss what was learned as a group. What 'take away' ideas did students get?
5. Have students/pairs/groups re-watch the video to fill in any gaps in their study guide.

Teacher Tips

• There are so many interesting topics here, so take time to explore the site.
• Since the reading level may be too high for some students, you may want to mix groups to allow all to participate.
• Practice and model reading skills/strategies; Teacher may need to read aloud or do choral reading (students read with teacher).
• Students read alone (provide time for silent reading) or in pairs.

More Ways

• These are great to introduce a topic for discussion or writing. Choose a high interest topic for class and share it with them.
• Explain new vocabulary. Have students try to guess meaning from context.
• Ask critical thinking questions.
• Discuss writing a summary. Provide model/demonstrate writing a summary of the reading.
• Have students write about what they learned or write a summary.
• Students can write final product on computers, use a SpellChecker, and publish their work.
• Students can return to the Web site and choose another article that is of interest to them, and write a summary to share with class.

Program Areas

• ABE: Adult Basic Education

Levels

• Intermediate
• High

Documents

• How things work computers - Worksheet: How Stuff Works: Computers

Subjects

• Reading
  • Critical Thinking/Decision Making
  • Vocabulary

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