A Curriculum Model for Teaching Telecommunications to Middle and Secondary School Students

This curriculum guide is intended for use in teaching a unit on telecommunications to students with a basic understanding of computing. Introductory materials spell out the purpose of the unit--to provide an introduction to the sending and receiving of electronic information using a personal computer system and the telephone communications system--together with behavioral objectives and information on the timeline and the materials and equipment needed for the unit. Plans are then presented for four lessons, which require a minimum of seven 50-minute class periods: (1) Introduction to the Telecommunications Unit; (2) Data Transmission; (3) Electronic Bulletin Board System Procedures and Operations; and (4) Types of Networks. Each lesson includes a set of objectives for the lesson; a 10- to 15-item vocabulary list; an estimated time line; an overview of materials preparation; the content to be presented; a detailed description of classroom procedures; suggestions for additional classroom activities; and student worksheets. A glossary containing 59 key phrases is appended as well as a printout of messages produced by the public domain electronic bulletin board; lists of online networks (including connect and subscription costs) and communications software; masters for overhead transparencies designed for use in presenting the content of the lessons; and vocabulary word puzzles. (SD)