Technology
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: How might technology increase complexity?
Technology has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. While we can’t see the future, we can learn from the past and present to envision what the technology of the future might be.
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate how technology impacts human societies.
- Explain how technology might impact our future.
Vocab Terms:
- AI (artificial intelligence)
- innovation
- quantum
- technology
Opener: Technology
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of the Lesson 7.4 Teaching Guide.
Join our online teacher community here to engage with other educators about Big History Project.
The technology you use today would bewilder a visitor from two centuries ago. But don’t get too smug—someday it’ll happen to you too!
Future Tech
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of the Lesson 7.4 Teaching Guide.
Check out our Reading Guide to learn about the Three-Step Reading approach.
This is one of those steps where we put it all together. Use this article and activity to see how technology changed the natural world in the past so we can assess what it might do in the future.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- Why is it important to think about the human aspects of technological innovation?
- What are some potential problems with a future where AI replaces a large portion of human labor?
- What are some potential problems with cognitive augmentation?
- What are some potential problems with using geoengineering to combat climate change?
After you read
Respond to this question: What is an example of a technology that we currently have that has a combination of benefits and drawbacks for humans?
Closer: Technology
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 4 of the Lesson 7.4 Teaching Guide.
Technology has gotten humanity out of a lot of jams before. Let’s consider some positive possibilities.
The Quantum Scientist
To teach this lesson step, refer to page 4 of the Lesson 7.4 Teaching Guide.
Comics in the classroom? Check out our Graphic Biographies Lesson Plan for guidance on using Graphic Biographies.
Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein collaborated, and together they changed our fundamental understanding of matter and how our Universe works.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the comic, paying attention to things like prominent colors, shapes, and types of text and fonts. How do you know where to start and in which direction to read? What’s in the gutters (the space between panels)? Who or what is the focus of the comic?
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- Why does this graphic biography assume you have not heard of Bose?
- What were Bose’s two main discoveries?
- What was Bose’s primary way of communicating with other physicists?
- What are some of the ways Bose’s contributions to science are used today?
- How does the illustration of this graphic biography show the relationship between Bose and Einstein?
After you read
Respond to this question: How might the work of Bose influence what the next threshold might be?
