Smart Home Technology
The Smart Home Unit is an online, project-based learning curriculum designed by CompTIA Spark. Each of the included lessons asks students to learn and actively apply digital skills to help them solve real-world problems. Each of these lessons is connected by a shared theme: You are a product designer at Fony, a home technology company with the mission to make the lives of their customers easier, safer, and healthier through the creation of automated and smart devices.
Through this unit, students will investigate the essential elements of the Internet of Things (IoT), the input, processing, output (IPO) model, and the basics of software engineering.
UNIT DETAILS
- Grade level: 5th-8th grade
- Length: 10-15 hours of class time
- Cost to implement: Free
MATERIALS
- Enough computers for a 1:1 ratio during class
- Internet connection strong enough to stream videos from multiple devices at the same time
- Access to the CompTIA Spark online learning platform
- Student accounts for Tinkercad Circuits
HIGH-LEVEL LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit students will:
- Learn how to use CompTIA Spark’s Smart Home Simulator to pseudocode automated and smart devices
- Understand how to code prototypes of automated and smart devices in Tinkercad Circuits
- Understand how smart devices communicate with each other through the internet to make life easier and safer for customers.
- Explore the role that IoT will play in our society in the future
- Demonstrate and identify interests in a tech or career pathway while investigating issues surrounding IoT and smart home technology
- Have developed 21st-century skills, including collaboration, critical thinking, and persistence