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A Brief History of Technology Technology began long before recorded history. When the earliest humans first made tools out of stones, technology was invented. That's what technology is all about: people creating ways to satisfy their needs. Technology does not have to be complex. A stone ax is technology just as much as a computer is. All people have basic needs and wants. Technology helps people satisfy these by creating products and services. Our essential needs -- for food, water, shelter, communication, transportation, protection, health care, and recreation -- have not changed throughout history. How we satisfy them, on the other hand, has changed dramatically. The Families of Technology To understand how different technologies satisfy needs, it is helpful to categorize them into families. The four families of technology are production systems (manufacturing and construction), communication systems, transportation systems, and biotechnology systems. Simple technologies can lead to more complex technologies. Today's computers are related to earlier mechanical adding devices, like the abacus. Technological families also share common processes. Throughout much of the world, technological development has occurred in three major eras: the Agricultural Era, the Industrial Era, and the Information Era. Advances in the Agricultural Era include pottery, writing, plowing, and sailing. The discussion that follows looks at advances that have taken place during the Industrial and Information Eras. The end of World War II is a good place to begin an overview of technological development and change. This is because that war fueled many of the technological advancements that would later become part of everyday life. Since this lesson plan deals with the technology family of biotechnology, what exactly is biotechnology? Post-World-War-II food production increased with the mechanization of farming, improved seeds, and new pesticides. In the 1950s, medical technology brought about techniques for controlling fatal diseases like tuberculosis and syphilis. New antibiotics such as penicillin became part of doctors' regimen for treating illness. The 1960s saw the first heart transplant and other organ transplants. Pacemaker technology allowed for the regulation of the human heartbeat. In the 1970s, diagnostic tools like the MRI gave physicians noninvasive means of exploring the inside of the human body. Medical advances that focused on genetic engineering characterized the 1980s and '90s. 
Ask your students the following question: If you were stranded on an uninhabited tropical island with only the clothing on your backs, what basic needs and wants would you need to satisfy? Follow up the questions with the following:
Introducing the Activities: 1. Present the activity in the "For Students" section as an opportunity to see how technologies were developed to satisfy people's wants and needs, just as the students would use technology to satisfy their needs on the island. Stress the fact that simpler technologies were combined to create new and more complex technologies as people's wants and needs became more complex. 2. Read through the activity with the students. 3. Review the Design Process (define the problem, develop solutions, etc.). 4. Ask probing questions to be sure the students understand what they must do. 5. During each activity, act as a facilitator and encourage team effort.  Have each team respond to the following questions: 1. How did the technologies they investigated impact upon people in the past and today? 2. Simple technologies develop into more complex technologies. What were some of the simpler technologies that led to the development of the technology they investigated? The technology they investigated might lead to what more complex technologies? 3. Describe another activity they could do that would build upon the information they learned through doing the activity. |