Unit 8
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units >unit 8> Science
and technology
D.
Science and technology
| 1. |
Information age/Computer Revolution
/Internet |
| 2. |
Impact of satellites |
| 3. |
Green Revolution |
| 4. |
Space
exploration |
| 5. |
Literacy and education |
| 6. |
Medical breakthroughs—disease
control/life expectancy/genetics |
| 7. |
Epidemics—AIDS |
| 8. |
Nuclear proliferation |
Focus Questions
| • |
Are the scientific and technological
advances of the late 20th and early 21st century
more significant than those of earlier eras? Which achievements
that we have studied compare to some of today's great
improvements? |
| • |
What is the responsibility of the
developed nations when it comes to sharing scientific
and technical advancements? |
| • |
What is the relationship between scientific/technological
development and ethics? What is the impact of the Green
Revolution on population and poverty? |
| • |
How might satellite-produced imagery
help humankind analyze and propose solutions to such
global environmental problems as deforestation, over-
population, water pollution, and resource depletion? |
| • |
What would Thomas Malthus have thought
about the impacts of science and technology on life spans
and health? |
| • |
What is the relationship between science,
technology, governments, universities, and industry in
scientific/technological innovation? |
| • |
What moral and political reservations
have arisen concerning scientific and technological innovations,
particularly in physics and genetics? |
| • |
What nations can be described as nuclear
powers? |
| • |
What role does nationalism play in
nuclear proliferation? |
| • |
What impact did the collapse of the
Soviet Union have on nuclear powers? |
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Vocabulary
| AIDS - HIV |
life expectancy |
| Computer Revolution |
literacy |
| environment |
nuclear club |
| epidemics |
nuclear proliferation |
| genetics |
population control |
| Green Revolution |
population density |
| Information Age |
|
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Scholarship
Diamond,
Jared. 1997. Guns, Germs and Steel:
The Fates of Human Societies. New
York: W. W. Norton & Company. |
| |
Diamond,
Jared. 2005. Collapse: How Societies
Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York:
Viking. |
| |
Friedman,
Thomas L. 2005. The World
Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First
Century. New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux. |
| |
Goody,
Jack. 1996. The
East in The West. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
|
| |
| Isichei, Elizabeth. 1997. A History of African Societies to 1870. New York: Cambridge University Press. |
| |
McNeill,
J.R. and William H. McNeill. 2003.
The Human Web: A Bird's Eye View of World History.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company. |
| |
McNeill,
William H. 1998. Plagues and Peoples. Garden
City, NY: Anchor Press. |
| |
Pacey,
Arnold. 1990. Technology in World
Civilization: A Thousand-Year History. Cambridge,
MA: M.I.T. Press. |
| |
Pomeranz,
Kenneth. 2000. The
Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making
of the Modern World Economy. Princeton:
Princeton University Press. |
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Helpful Hints
| • |
These very current issues
and topics are best examined by very current sources,
such as Internet sites and newspaper and magazine articles. |
| • |
The opportunity arises
here for connections to other departments in the school,
particularly science. Students' knowledge of biology,
earth science, chemistry, and physics may be brought
into the social studies classroom. |
| • |
A good approach may be
a group activity covering the various areas listed, with
a focus question such as "What
would life be like without...?" Fill in the
blanks with the various examples of science and technology
that are so prevalent today. Groups within the class
could be assigned different areas to research and report
to the class, or to make a case for why their assigned
area is more important to our existence than the others.
The various web sites listed in the Resources section
can be used for this purpose. |
| • |
As Regents preparation
is on the minds of the students and teachers, another
approach might be to try to see the connections of today'
s science and technology to that of previous eras. How
does HIV-AIDS compare to earlier epidemics, such as the
Black Death of the 14th century, or to the influenza
epidemic of the early 20th century? How is
modem space exploration similar to/different from the
great Age of Exploration of the 15th-17h centuries? How
does the significance of the Internet compare to the
printing press of the 15th century? How does the Green
Revolution compare to England's Agricultural Revolution
of the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
What is the impact of widespread literacy today, compared
to almost any other era or place in history? |
| • |
Changes in the threat of
nuclear weapons from the end of WWII to the present can
be emphasized. Which nations have become members of the Nuclear
Club? Which nations have undeclared nuclear
capacity, or are suspected of having weapons? What role
does nationalism play in nuclear proliferation (see India
vs. Pakistan, or the emergence of the North Korean threat)?
What impact has the collapse of communism had on nuclear
proliferation? Has the threat of nuclear destruction
been surpassed by other issues today (e.g., terrorism)? |
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Resources for Teachers (Books/Articles, Visuals/Music)
Burke,
Peter and Asa Briggs. 2005. A Social History
of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. Cambridge,
UK: Polity Press. |
| |
Grubler,
Arnulf. 2003. Technology and Global Change. Cambridge:
University Press. |
| |
Kepel,
Gilles. 1994. The Revenge of God. University
Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. |
| |
|
Prestowitz, Clyde.
2005. Three Billion New Capitalists:
The Great Shift of Wealth & Power to the
East. New York: Basic Books. |
| |
Ruttan,
Vernon W. 2001. Technology, Growth and
Development: An Induced Innovation Perspective. New
York: Oxford University Press. |
| |
|
Smith,
Bonnie, ed. 2004-05. Women's
History in Global Perspective.
Champaign, Ill: University of Illinois Press. |
| |
| Green Revolution
http://wparks.myweb.uga.edu/ppt/green/
http://www.indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm
http://www.foodfirst.org/media/opeds/2000/4-greenrev.html |
| |
Literacy
and Education
www.literacyonline.org/ |
| |
Epidemics
- AIDS
www.npr.org/healthscience/aids2004/
www.unaids.org/ |
| |
| Nuclear Proliferation
www.fas.org/nuke/control/npt/ |
| |
General
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation/index.asp
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/ |
| |
The
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Timeline of Art History
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm?HomePagLink=toah_1 |
| |
Wide Angle: Window Into Global History (PBS)
"One Nation: Two Futures?" http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/wideangle/lessonplans/onenation/index.html
"I'm Watching You 24/7" http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/wideangle/lessonplans/imwatching/index.html |
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Learning Experience(s)
Editor's
Note: To
date there have been no Learning Experiences submitted for
this subsection. If you wish to submit one, please refer
to http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/sscontentcall.html.
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Assessments
Editor's Note: All state examinations are
aligned to the New York State Learning Standards for Social
Studies and Social Studies Resource Guide with Core Curriculum.
The chart below specifies where these alignments have occurred
(from June 2000 to the present).
| Core
Curriculum: |
Global
History and Geography Regents: |
| 1. |
Information
age/Computer Revolution /Internet |
|
|
August 2000 Thematic, Science
and Technology
June 2005 Thematic, Global
Problems |
|
|
|
January 2004 DBQ, Revolutions |
|
|
|
August 2004 DBQ, Epidemic |
|
|
|
January 2005 Thematic, Change (Political
Events)
August 2005 DBQ, Technological Changes |
|
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