21st Century Questions

Monitoring Students

2011-06-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

Parents, teachers, and school administrators are increasingly monitoring students with the help of technology. A few examples include setting up online portals for parents to view student performance and attendance, reading student facebook and twitter posts, and tracking students with RFID chips in their school badges.

Some people say that we need to monitor students in new ways for their own safety. Others call it a slippery slope toward Orwellian surveillance.

How far should adults go to monitor students? Should adults monitor younger students differently than they do high school students?

To what degree should people continue to be monitored into adulthood and throughout their lives?

Learning and Technology

2011-05-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Students don't need to learn facts anymore; they have Google.

Students don't need to learn basic math; they have calculators.

Soon, students won't need to learn other languages; they will have an instant translation app on their smartphones.

What idea do all of these statements support?

Do you agree with this idea? Do you disagree with it? Do your thoughts fall somewhere in between agreement and disagreement?

Research, develop, and deliver a multimedia presentation that explores your ideas about the relationship between learning and technology.

Online Filter Bubbles

2011-05-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

In the following video, Eli Pariser presents the concept of online filter bubbles and expresses his concerns about them.

What are online filter bubbles? What causes them?

What Internet sites do you personally use that filter the information you get? What are the advantages and disadvantages of such filtering?

How does Eli Pariser's philosophy of the Web relate to his concern about filter bubbles? Does your philosophy of the Web cause you to have similar concerns?

Evaluate Pariser's proposed solution for avoiding filter bubbles. Then present your own proposal for how we should personalize the Web.

Disruptive Technology

2010-09-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Technology is considered disruptive when it profoundly changes the way we do something. It often makes older technology obsolete.

Our history is filled with examples of disruptive technology. The personal computer deleted the typewriter industry. The vacuum cleaner sucked up much of the broom business. The zipper snagged a good portion of the button business. And just look at how technology has disrupted the music industry.

Identify and research another example of disruptive technology from the past.

What older technology did it disrupt?
Why did it disrupt this technology? (Was the disruptive technology cheaper, more convenient, faster, more powerful?)
What effects did this disruption have on society?

Now find an example of an emerging technology that has the potential to be disruptive.

What current technology will it disrupt?
Why will it disrupt this technology?
What effects will this disruption have on society?

Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine

2010-09-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Nanotechnology is technology that is small enough to be measured in nanometers.

Nanomedicine is medicine that uses nanotechnology.

Research and present an example of how nanotechnology is currently being used in the medical field.

Some believe that future nanotechnology will allow people to live for hundreds of years, even forever, by continuously repairing our bodies at the cellular and subcellular level. What problems might come with such an advancement in medicine, and how might we be able to solve those problems?

Think Up an App

2010-07-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

Think of a problem that exists in the world today. It can be any problem, big or small.

Now think of an app that could help solve that problem. Be sure to

Create a name and design an icon for your app.
Research other apps that help solve the problem you chose, and explain how your app helps solve the problem in a different way.
Write a story or make a video that shows your app in action!

Here are two examples of apps that were developed to help homeless people. As you can see, they take very different approaches to the problem.

The Digital Divide

2010-06-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

The digital divide is the divide between those who have access to digital technology and those who don’t.

Digital divides exist on local, national, and global levels.

Research a local, a national, and a global example of the digital divide.

For each of the three examples, investigate the causes of the divide, reflect on the consequences of having such a divide, and propose solutions to close the divide.

Decades of Technology

2010-06-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

As a society, we sometimes define a time period by the technology that had the greatest impact on us during that time.

For example, the 1980s are often called the decade of the personal computer.

The 1990s are often called the decade of the internet.

Present a brief history of personal computers during the 1980s and of the internet during the 1990s. Explain why these technologies defined their decade.

What would you call 2000–2009 the decade of? In other words, what technology do you think had the greatest impact on society during the last ten years? Explain why you think so, and provide evidence to support your answer.

Looking ahead in terms of future technology, what do you think people might call the coming decade, 2010–2019?

The Future of World Languages

2010-03-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

There are approximately 7,000 languages spoken on Earth.

Most people speak only 83 of those 7,000 languages.

More than half of those 7,000 languages are likely to disappear by the year 2100.

A world language dies every couple of weeks.

What forces are causing languages to die off?

Which languages of the world are most vulnerable to extinction? Why are these languages most endangered?

Should we try to prevent languages from dying off? Explain why or why not.

The Uncanny Valley

2010-02-28T17:28:00.000-08:00

As human beings, we generally react more positively to machines and robots that resemble us. That is, until a robot begins to resemble us too closely. Then we begin to react negatively. This is the theory that roboticist Masahiro Mori presented in 1970.
It is called the theory of the Uncanny Valley.

Mori presented his theory with the graph below. Along the x axis, he plotted how human the machine or robot appeared; along the y axis, he plotted how positively or negatively people reacted to the machine or robot.

This video walks you through Mori’s theory.

Why do you think Mori’s theory is called the Uncanny Valley?

Find 5-7 examples of machines or robots and plot them along Mori’s graph.

Present your own theory that explains why the Uncanny Valley exists—why we feel creeped out by robots that resemble us too closely.

Do you think we will ever create robots that resemble us so closely that we will not be able to tell the difference between us? Explain why or why not.

Book Tech

2010-02-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Before the printing press that Johann Gutenberg invented around 1450 (earlier presses had been invented in

China

and

Korea

), people had to copy scrolls and books by hand. The printing press enabled people to print pages and books far more quickly and in larger numbers than ever before. In this way, information was more easily shared.

What long-term effects did the invention of the printing press have on society?

Today, with internet access available on portable digital devices like smartphones, netbooks, ereaders, and tablets, some people wonder if we need to print books anymore. They see digital books replacing printed books the way printed books replaced handwritten books.

How would digital books change the way people share information?

What effects do you think a switch to digital books would have on society?

Technology Metaphors

2010-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

A metaphor helps us understand something by making us think of it in terms of something else.

Through history, people have viewed themselves in terms of the technology they use. After the invention of the steam engine, people began to feel the need to let off steam. As batteries became commonplace, we suddenly felt the need to recharge ours. More recently, using computers has made us think of our brains as computers.

Find other examples of technology metaphors through history, and explain what they mean. (Remember, even fire, a wheel, and a clock is a form of technology.)

Then use your imagination to create technology metaphors we might be using in the future based on current or future technology.

Politics and Social Media

2010-01-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

On July 23, 2007, the 2008 Democratic Presidential Debate introduced the YouTube debate format, which allowed any

citizen to submit debate questions through YouTube. On November 28, 2007, the first Republican Presidential YouTube Debate was held.

YouTube is not the only form of social media that was used during the 2008 presidential election.

What other forms of social media are being used in US politics? What effect are these media having on US politics?

What effect are social media having on the politics of other countries?

Energy Sources

2010-01-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

Oil, gas,
nuclear,
wind, coal,
hydro, solar,
geothermal,
biofuel

Choose two energy sources and thoroughly compare them.

Where in the world are the energy sources used?

What is the energy used to power?

How is the energy gathered, stored, and distributed?

What are the positive aspects of using the energy sources?

What are the negative aspects of using the energy sources?

What is the future outlook of both energy sources?

Family 2.0

2009-12-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Texting and IM, blogs and micro-blogs, and social networking sites are all tools developed to help us communicate with each other. How have these tools changed the way your family or other families you know interact?
How are these communication tools strengthening family relationships? How are they interfering with them?
How do you think tools like these might change the way the next generation of family members relate to each other?

Moore’s Law

2009-12-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

In 1965, in Electronics Magazine, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore stated that the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated circuit had doubled every year since 1959 and predicted that trend to continue. In 1975, he revised that prediction to a doubling every two years. This observation and prediction was coined Moore’s Law, and it explains why technology has continued to become more powerful, smaller, and less expensive.

In 2005, in Techworld, Moore stated that his Law will reach a fundamental barrier in 10 or 20 years, when transistor size will approach the size of atoms.

What might happen if we cannot continue the trend in computing power set by Moore’s Law? What could we use instead of transistors to continue the trend?

What might happen if we are able to continue this trend indefinitely?

Genomes

2009-12-23T06:51:00.000-08:00

2002: Rice Genome Sequenced

2003: Human Genome Sequenced

2004: Chicken Genome Sequenced

2005: Dog Genome Sequenced

What is a genome? What other genomes have been sequenced?

What are genomes teaching us about ourselves and the living things around us? How are we using this information today, and how might we use what we learn about genomes in the future?

Online Privacy

2009-12-21T05:34:00.000-08:00

As we put more of our lives online, is our idea of privacy changing?

What types of information about ourselves do we put online? Who might be interested in this information? What are the pros and cons of sharing each type of information?

Jobs of the Future

2009-12-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

What new types of jobs will there be five or more years from now? Why do you think these jobs will exist?

Would you like one of these jobs? If so, what qualities and training would you need to do this job well?

Robotic Warfare

2009-12-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

During the past decade, significant advances have been made in robotic warfare.

How is robotics being used in the military? What implications may this have for an individual, a society, or humanity as a whole?

Dow Jones

2009-12-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

This is a chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1900 to the present.

What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? What forces influence whether the Dow moves up, down, or stays relatively flat? Choose a section of the chart (at least three consecutive years) and explain why it behaved the way it did for that period of time.

Global Water Shortage

2009-12-17T22:37:00.000-08:00

Many parts of the world suffer from a shortage of clean drinking water. What are the causes and consequences of such a shortage? Will the problem become worse? What are some solutions?