Texting takeoff
You’ll need
- Coloured pens or pencils
- Scrap paper
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.
- SMS: Short Message Service is a text messaging service allowing users to send and receive messages of up to 160 characters. These can be sent all over the world but cannot transfer much information.
- MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service is a method of sending multimedia messages (video, audio, images) or messages over 160 characters over the same network as SMS messages. These can be sent all over the world and can transfer more information than SMS messages.
- 3G: 3G is the third generation of wireless mobile communications technology, allowing for data transfer speeds of up to 21.6 Mbit/s. 3G allows lots of data to be transferred, but needs an internet connection.
- 4G: 4G is the fourth generation of wireless mobile communications technology, allowing for data transfer speeds of up to 1000 Mbit/s. 4G allows lots of data to be transferred, but needs an internet connection. It’s over 40 times faster than 3G!
- WAP: The Wireless Application Protocol is a set of rules that devices follow to communicate wirelessly. WAP was designed to make sure devices are all able to communicate with each other wirelessly by all doing things in the same way. WAP has been around for a long time and although you never see it, it supports everything we do wirelessly.
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth is a method for devices that are close to one another to transfer information wirelessly, without the need for an internet or phone connection. Bluetooth is great for transferring things to people around you, but cannot be used for anything long distance and can be quite slow.
|
Term |
Characteristics |
Suggested Plane |
|||
|
Size |
Speed |
Distance |
Complexity |
||
|
SMS |
Small |
Fast |
Long |
Simple |
|
|
MMS |
Small/Medium |
Fast |
Long |
Simple/Medium |
|
|
3G |
Small |
Slow |
Medium |
Complex |
|
|
4G |
Large |
Fast |
Medium |
Complex |
|
|
WAP |
Large |
Slow |
Long |
Simple |
|
|
Bluetooth |
Small |
Slow |
Short |
Simple |
|
Take off
- Everyone should split into small groups.
- The person leading the activity should give each group enough paper to make six paper aeroplanes and instructions on how to make them from the table above.
- Everyone should decide which plane they’d like to make from those listed. They should make a note of the texting term that corresponds to their paper plane design (SMS, MMS, 3G, 4G, WAP or Bluetooth).
If anyone has their own secret design that they’d like to make, they should do this and choose any texting term from the selection to go with it.
- As everyone makes their planes, volunteers or young leaders should make a runway for planes to land on.
You could make this by laying two lines of vertical sticks, string, cones or spare paper, adjacent to one another. Leave about one metre in between the two lines. Try to make sure the runway is clearly marked.
- Everyone should do a flight test. They should take their own pencils and mark the planes with initials so they know which is theirs, then throw it towards the runway. Aim for a smooth landing!
- Each group should pick one or two of their planes that performed well. It’s time to see which group’s messenger plane can send a message the best. The groups should come up with a message that they might send by text or using a direct messaging app. Include lots of popular abbreviations for words or phrases (such as ‘lol’ or ‘brb’) that you might send in a text.
- Once everyone has written their messages on the plane, groups should nominate a person to throw their plane. They should decide between them who were the best take off pilots from the flight test in step four. Those people should throw their group’s plane or planes toward the runway.
- Once the plane’s successfully landed, the person that threw it should collect it and read their message to another group.
- Everyone in the other group should try to translate all the abbreviated words or phrases into spoken English.
Reflection
The planes in this activity all corresponded to a different term associated with mobile phones and messaging.
Some of the terms might’ve been familiar and others might’ve been new to the group. Which texting term corresponded with the best plane design?
Did different groups find different designs to be better? The same is true for those texting terms. They’re all processes or services that have their uses, so it’s helpful to know which is which for when you need them.
Having an understanding of the way things work around us can encourage us to keep asking new questions and learning new things.
Someone might also one day discover something small that sparks your interest in a whole new subject.
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
- Online safety
Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.
- Some of the planes are harder to make than others. Suggest a different design for those who are finding the task of making one difficult.
- People should support each other while staying distanced. They could encourage each other, explain how to do something, or demonstrate from a safe distance away.
Make it accessible
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
People that enjoyed creating their own paper-aeroplanes could consider working towards the Air Activities Staged Activity Badge.
Allow and encourage people to design and create their own paper-aeroplanes and use their own text abbreviations, as long as they’re appropriate.