Weekly Reading (6/13-6/17)

Armageddon Science: The Science of Mass Destruction

Science has an essential role in society and civilization, and unfortunately, as this book illustrates, a great potential to end both. However, in using this book to teach students my focus would not be on the devastation of humanity, but rather on the prevention of this possible occurrence by taking precautions mentioned within the book and also by alerting ourselves of the possibilities and technologies inherent within the study of science. Due to the intimate relationship between science and society, we as social studies teachers should elaborate on and explain the great world of science to our students because it falls within the realm of the social studies in that it expands with society. Students need to understand the newest technological sciences in the same way that they need to be literate in multiple medias. It is a growing aspect of knowledge that one needs to be able to master in order to fully comprehend the world around us, even if that is to understand how the world could potentially end. The more we know on the subject matter the more we can do to prevent its happening. Also this topic, of world devastation, can breed many learning routes within the social studies, like the importance of international diplomacy, foreign policy, geography, psychology, epidemics, and the list goes on and on. This book was a very interesting read and has a mass appeal to facilitating several academic debates in the social studies that would be invaluable in a classroom.

From the weekly questions I like the one about the perspective of today's "mad scientists" who is usually employed or encouraged by governments or large corporations rather than being isolated, like a Dr. Frankenstein. To me it seems that since the scientists are prodded along toward discovery by governments and companies that there may no longer be a "mad scientists," but rather a "mad employer" whether that be a government or a company. In the government's case, or most specifically the military's, it seems that there is no greater goal than defending the nation at any and all expense. They want scientists to keep them ahead of the game, even if it seems that diplomacy will never let nuclear or biological war happen. As for the companies it boils down to money, which we previously saw in All the Devils are Here. They employ the scientists to make the newest drug or the fastest processor or whatever so that they can distribute it throughout the world with the sole aim of making money rather than spreading a mutual benefit. In this way they are looking for the next big invention and pushing scientist to create rather than the "mad scientist" working on their own accord in utter isolation.

Weekly Reading (6/6-6/10)

Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity

The topic of celebrity is extremely relevant to the social studies and in nearly every field, with maybe the exception of Geography. Throughout history and especially in politics celebrity has been a key feature to the formation of governments, nations, policies, and movements. In our social studies classes we can use the current concept of celebrity and apply it to historical precedents or use it an analogous sense. Maybe even more importantly we can use the concept of celebrity to expose our students to current events that are indeed relevant to our social studies classes. Celebrity affects politics, culture and society in an unprecedented way in our world and therefore is a valuable topic of discussion and debate. Students could really learn valuable social studies lesson, and also life lessons, from the exploration of celebrity events and scandals. The evaluation of these events have a lasting impression on society, much in the same way that major historical events impact society. However, we need to guide students through the entangled web of celebrity because their minds are not as keen on proper behavior or the propaganda that is embedded in celebrity. Sometimes they take what they are told, or what they see for pure fact, when in the world of celebrity it might be far from the truth.

The question I would like to address is the one dealing with celebrity turned political candidate or vice versa, as it seems to be happening more and more in today's world. However, this is not a new trend. Think back into history, or just look at how many war heros have become American Presidents. This trend goes way beyond America too. Back in those times a war hero was a celebrity and were thus given power because of their fame, some of which turned out to be disastrous. But, when we discuss these things within a classroom we can show students how celebrities of yore were  or were not fit for the job, and then relate those instances to current day candidates, like the Donald Trumps, the Arnolds, and so on. Rather than dwell on the fact that some of these candidates win because of their fame we should teach our students to vote in spite of the fame and vote for the best candidate. There is a great civics lesson in this discussion and one that our students could greatly benefit from.

Weekly Reading (5/30-6/3)

What Technology Wants

I think that this book would be a very interesting topic for classroom discussion. Kevin Kelly brings about a multitude of issues, theories, and thoughts about technology that are open to debate and deliberation. From the title alone, What Technology Wants, a teacher could construct a very interesting discussion focusing on such questions as, Can technology "want" in the same way that humans "want"? Is Kelly assuming that what humans want for technology is what technology wants for itself? If technology can "want" then how do their human creators influence the technologies? Students may have a hard time, initially, but with some selected passages from the book I think students would be able to answer these questions and more. Another really interesting and highly debatable issue that Kelly discusses is the inevitability of technology. In a classroom I would ask students if they were able to predict a technology before it came out, and if they were able to, does that prove its inevitability? Or should we look at this on a larger scale, of regions, cultures, etc.? The questions pertaining to this book so easily fit into a format of discussion about technology, which makes them extremely useful in a classroom and to the exploration of technologies existences and consequences.  

As for the questions of the week I would like to respond to the following: Do you think technology shortens your attention span? As I noted in our discussion I would have to say that technology does shorten our attention span. I have witnessed this in myself. As I surf the web, watching videos, reading blogs or threads, I find that if I'm not amused within seconds I'm on to the next page. However, as others have noted, maybe this is not a bad thing. We are able to prioritize news, events, videos, like never before by using the web and by doing so we are able to get the information and amusement that we desire most in seconds. Maybe our attention span is shorter because we are evolving as media digesters and thus need less time to devour an equal if not greater amount of information.