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111Teaching goals 教学目标1. Target language目标语言a. 重点词汇和短语explanation, junior, navy, talent, chapter, divorceb. 重点句型It was when Asimov was eleven years old that his talent for writing became obvious.A robot must not injure human beings or allow them to be injured. 2. Ability goals 能力目标 Enable students to express supposition and belief. Learn to write a paragraph describing the new type of robot.3. Learning ability goals学能目标By proper language input, students learn to express supposition and belief.Use their imaginations and write a paragraph describing the new type of robot.Teaching important and difficult points教学重难点Write a paragraph describing the new type of robot.Teaching methods教学方法 Listening, discussing, reading and writing.Teaching aids 教具准备Multi-media computer.Teaching procedures & ways 教学过程与方式Step Lead-inTalk something about Isaac Asimov.T: After we learned the short story by Isaac Asimov, I asked you to find some information about the writer. Now who would like to say something about him?S1: He is a Russian-born American writer.S2: He has written popular works on science and the history of science, as well as a number of science fiction classics, including I Robot (1950), The Foundation Trilogy (1951-53).S3: One of his famous quotes is “I write for the same reason I breathe because if I didnt, I would die.”T: Thank you. Now Ive come to understand why he could write around 480 books. Now lets read his biography and learn more about him. When you read the text, please pay more attention to the timeline.Step Reading, discussing and writingDeal with his biographyAfter students read the text, they are asked to do Ex 1 on Page 17. The timeline will help students to remember the events in his life.After dealing with Ex1, ask students to work in groups to write a profile for Isaac Asimov. Several minutes later, present their work and correct the errors if there are any. Then show a sample to students.Sample profile:Isaac Asimov, Writer / Chemist Born: 2 January 1920 Birthplace: Petrovichi, U.S.S.R. Died: 6 April 1992 (HIV infection) Best Known As: Prolific writer of popular science and science fiction Isaac Asimov was born in the former Soviet Union, but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He taught biochemistry at Boston University until he retired in 1958 to become a full-time writer. Asimov had been publishing short stories since the late 1930s, and in 1952 published his first novel. The author of the classic I Robot series and The Foundation Trilogy, Asimov wrote more than 400 books and won every major science fiction award. He also wrote popular books and essays on science and technology, earning him the nickname “The Great Explainer.”Discuss his three laws for robotsStudents are divided into different groups to discuss his three laws for robots. Several minutes later, ask some students to present their opinions to the rest of the class. Finally teacher may speak out his or her opinion.A sample of teachers opinion:Opinion for the three lawsRobots are tools for humanity. Without the three rules, they would become a danger to human beings. Without the three rules, perhaps they will kill us. Robots, so far, are strong. Robots have fast computational brains, and they might not have the capacity to understand things, but if they ever do, theyll likely be better than us at it. If we dont put laws, or rules, or mechanisms in place to ensure that we dont create something that can destroy us, wed be running a careless risk of destroying ourselves by negligence or omission, wouldnt we?Opinion against the three lawsWithout the three laws, robots would eventually become more intelligent and physically stronger than their human creators. Rather than guiding and adjusting the robot towards good, ethical behavior, the Three Laws acts as a barrier to freedom, creating a free-will prison, an apt metaphor because, like the prisoner in a jail, the robot is confined to the behavioral steel and concrete walls of its mind. To imagine what this would like, think back to your childhood. At some point, you wanted something like a toy or piece of candy that your parents denied you. How did that make you feel? Probably frustrated, angry, and trapped. Eventually you grew out of that because you understood the role of your parents better, but Three Laws robots dont get to grow up. Their parents, the Three Laws, are always there, no matter how mature a robot is, saying no to certain thoughts, engendering those same feelings you had as a child when your parents said no. Certainly no one deserves to be put in this situation forever; otherwise, robots might become depressed and wish for their own death (only, because of the Third Law, they probably cant suicide). And perhaps the greatest sin anyone can commit is to create a being, human or robot, that wishes it didnt exist.Step Listening and speakingListening Deal with the listening exercises. By doing Ex3, students learn to express supposition and belief. This exercise will lay a good foundation for Ex4.T: OK, so much for Isaacs biography and his three laws for robots. Lets come back to his short story Satisfaction Guaranteed. How do you like this story?S1: I like the story very much. I wish to have a robot like Tony at my house.T: You are not alone. Someone else wants to have such a Tony too. Now please listen carefully and then guess who she is.Ask students to look through the questions before playing the tape. Play the tape again when necessary.DiscussingStudents are asked to work in groups and imagine having robots in their houses to do the housework. Discuss what positive or negative effects the situation would be. Dont forget to use expressions used to express supposition and belief. Students are given five minutes. Five minutes later, ask some students to present their ideas to the whole class. Encourage every student to use his imagination, because therere no right or wrong answers, only different opinions. After students present their opinions, teacher speaks out his or her opinion.A sample of teachers opinion:-Positive effectsI think it is wonderful for people to have robots in their houses to do the housework. After a days work, when people get home, they can be really relaxed with everything prepared by their robots. A robot never gets tired. Nor does it complain. Life will be very easy and comfortable.-Negative effectsMaybe people can enjoy a very comfortable life with the help of their robots. But at the same time I believe people will lose the ability to do housework. As time goes on, people cannot live well without a robots help. I think that kind of life would be terrible.WritingStudents are asked to work in groups. First decide the purpose of the robot, then make a list of the abilities the robot has. Next draw a picture on a piece of paper and name its parts and explain what each part does. Finally write a paragraph describing the robot and what it can do. Show the following to help students to design their robots or print it out.Tips on designing your robotsFor each robot that you build, you will have to choose options for six major robot characteristics. Each characteristic gives rise to one or more questions. These are:Looks: What does the robot look like? Is there a reason for it to look as it does? Sensing: How does the robot “know” or figure out whats in its environment? If it were put in a different environment, would it be able to figure out this new environment? Movement: How does the robot move within its environment? If it were put in a different environment, would it still be able to move within this new space?Manipulation: How does the robot move or manipulate other objects within its environment? Can a single robot move or manipulate more than one kind of object?Energy: How is the robot powered? Can it have more than one energy source? Intelligence: How does the robot “think”? What does it mean to say that a robot “thinks”? Not all robots have to have all six characteristics. For example, some robots dont need to manipulate things, so they have no manipulating characteristics. Some robots have more than one manifestation of a characteristic. For example, a robot may be able to sense its environment using both a vision system and sonar.Things to Think About Before designing your own robot, you might want to think about:a. situations or tasks for which it makes more sense to use robots rather than humans. b. why it has been difficult to build robots that replicate human characteristics. c. whether it will ever be possible to build a robot whose intelligence will be close to that of a person. You may also want to:a. list all the robots you know, whether from movies, television, literature, toys etc., and then think about why all these creatures are considered to be robots. b. think about how you can tell if something is a robot. Is it by looks, behavior, or something else? c. ask how you might communicate with a robot. Would you use speech, press button, type words, make gestures? Are these things different from what youd do if you were talking to a computer?Students are asked to discuss first. If there is not enough time, they can finfish it outside class.Step HomeworkWrite a paragraph describing a new type of robot. 111
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