Authors: Donna Hage, NBCT Subject(s): Character Education, Biometrics, Language Arts, and Math. Grade Level: 9 - 12th Grade

Unit Objective(s)/Overview:

Students will:

• explore their self image and cultural identities through connections to the use of  biometrics in history and the future
• work independently to complete hands-on activities that introduce them to the world of biometrics; these activities will identify the unique traits of each student. The hands-on activities will utilize 21st century technologies (scanner, digital camera, PowerPoint, FACES) to replicate biometrics. The biometrics activities include hand geometry, iris scan, face recognition, fingerprints, voice recognition
• reflect on their discoveries in a blog
• work in small groups to assemble and review their individual characteristics, including differences and similarities
• use the previously created biometric activities to make conclusions about themselves and other cultures
• assemble this information in an Excel sheet and table for review and comparisons
• blog to reflect on their discoveries in the small group setting. Further, the groups will review the positive (i.e. curbing terrorism) and negative (i.e. identification of Jews during the Holocaust) uses of biometrics in history in order to develop an argument for or against one of the multitude of careers in biometrics in society

Learning Activities:

Lesson 1: Uniquely You: Discovering Unique Traits Through Biometrics

Lesson 2: I'm Okay, You're Okay: Using History to Teach Cultural Awareness

Resources: 

• FACES software
• Audacity free software download
• www.Blogger.com
• Sony Puppy
• Prompts for Creating a Blog or Journal Entries
• Student Handouts listed in Lesson 1 for the workstations
• Rubric for Scoring Blogs or Journal Entries
• Rubistar For Teachers web site
• Group Handouts listed in Lesson 2
• Career Exploration handout listed in Lesson 2
• Prompts for Career Exploration for blog

Credits and References:

Audacity Development Team. Audacity Software. 2006. 28 Jul. 2006
<http://audacity.sourceforge.net/>.

Blogger. 1999-2006. Google. 28 Jul. 2006 <http://www.blogger.com/start>.

Department of the Army. Biometrics Task Force. 28 Jul. 2006 <http://www.biometrics.dod.mil/bio101/1.aspx>.

Sony Electronics Inc. Business Solutions. 2002. 28 Jul. 2006 <http://bssc.sel.sony.com/news/puppy/index.html>.

Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc. Faces Software 4.0 Educational Version. 2005. 28 Jul. 2006 <http://www.pimall.com/NAIS/faces.html>.

University of Kansas. rubistar4teachers. 2000-2006. 28 Jul. 2006 <http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php>.