How the World Works
For the second half of Term 1 the class looked at How the World Works with a specific focus on human invention and how it affects the natural world. We started by looking at the printing press, an invention that has changed all of our lives. We focused only on the positive impact of the printing press and created magazine advertisements that showcased these positive qualities. Following this we looked at the negative side of the printing press, and the class created letters from a scribe in the mid-1400s begging Gutenburg not to create the printing press. This was followed with group work where pairs of students focused on a world changing invention, its benefits, its detriments, and finally whether they thought the good outweighed the bad. They wrote this up as a report and presented it in class. (Topics chosen by the class were paint, plastic, pesticides, and thermal power plants.)
For the final part of this unit, the class researched dams. They separated into two groups (one looking for the positive impact of dams and one looking at the negative impact of dams). Once they finished researching they then created a play that was set up as a court hearing on whether or not a dam should be built. Witnesses were called, questioned, and cross examined. The witnesses called to convince the court to build the dam were a farmer, the major of a nearby city, and a civil engineer. The witnesses called to convince the court to stop the building of the dam included a civilian who lost her home to another dam and a biologist. Finally, the jury (Abroad 7th and 8th graders) voted on whether or not the dam should be built. The jury voted to not allow the dam to be built.
