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Worksheet

F12.1 Impacts of technology

Technology and society · GCSE · OCR J277 1.6.1, AQA 8525 3.8, Edexcel 1CP2 5.1.1 · about 15 min

BugBotLab
NameClassDate

What this lesson is about

Ethical, legal, cultural, environmental and privacy impacts, stakeholders, and weighing them up.

Questions 5 marks in all

  1. [1 mark]A shop uses face recognition on every customer. Which impact is that mainly?

    1. APrivacy
    2. BEnvironmental
    3. CCopyright
    4. DPerformance

  2. [1 mark]What is a stakeholder?

    1. AAnyone affected by a system
    2. BOnly the person who pays for it
    3. CThe programmer
    4. DThe government

  3. [1 mark]Which is an environmental impact?

    1. AThe rare metals needed to make the device
    2. BThe password being weak
    3. CThe software licence
    4. DThe user interface

  4. [1 mark]An exam question says "discuss". What does a good answer include?

    1. ABoth benefits and drawbacks, then a conclusion
    2. BOnly the benefits
    3. CA list of definitions
    4. DOnly your opinion

  5. [1 mark]An effect scores +3 and two effects score -1 each. What is the total?

The task: weigh up the robots

Each effect in effects has a score from -3 to 3. Print each as <name>: <score> with a + in front of positive scores (an f-string with {score:+d} does this). Then print total: <n>, and on the next line verdict: worth it if the total is above 0, verdict: not worth it if below 0, and verdict: too close to call if it is exactly 0.

# the two lines every program starts with: the commands, then the robot
from bugbot import *
connect()

effects = [
    ("students learn to code", 3),
    ("plastic and metal to make", -2),
    ("electricity to run", -1),
    ("fewer jobs in assembly", -1),
    ("reaches remote schools", 2),
    ("e-waste at end of life", -1),
]

Plan your program here, then type it in and press Run.

QR code
Do it on the robot
www.bugbotlab.com/learn/f12-1-impacts-of-technology/
The simulator checks it and tells you when it passes. Nothing to install, no account.

Challenges

  1. Add an effect of your own and see whether the verdict changes.
  2. Group the effects by the five kinds of impact. Which kind has the most entries?
  3. Why can a total like this be misleading? Give one example.