Mr. Reiter’s Global History IV – Webquest Project II.

The Space Race: The 20^th Century Goes High-Tech.

The Science and Technology Revolution of the 20^th Century.

Newsflash!

Russians Launch “Moon” Satellite Into Earth Orbit!

This was not possible!

How could the Russians beat the United States by launching a satellite into space before us? Well this is exactly what everybody was asking.

But on the morning of October 4, 1957, this is the sound that we all woke up to and

heard.

The “Space Race” was on. Both sides, the U.S. and the Soviet Union believed that the side that “won the race” – to control space, could also control the world and win the “Cold War”. If weapons of mass destruction, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) that could fire nuclear warheads, could be launched into space and aimed at your enemy, there was no way that your enemy could stop you. You would have the military advantage – the balance of power would now be in your favor. The view from space shows us that a missile could easily be aimed and fired to hit any target in the world. But the “space race” also started a period of great advancement in technology.

The second half of the 20^th century can be called the era of science and technology.

We put a satellite into Earth orbit and then a few years later put men on the moon.

We developed computers that enabled us to do the calculations needed to achieve these goals.

In medicine, we developed the cure for the most dreaded of the 20^th century diseases – polio and today there is hardly any mention of the disease. We also developed anti-biotics – drugs that could attack and kill germs that make us sick.

We developed the science of engineering to allow us to build buildings that we really call

“sky scrapers”.

We developed the "green revolution"– advancement in the growing of food in greater quantities that are not affected by disease or insects thus increasing our food supply.

We have developed airplanes capable of flying many times faster than the speed of sound and invisible to radar.

And…

today we can access information instantly and

communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere in the world through the use of Cell Phones and the Internet.

You and your group are to do a project describing one of the scientific and technological developments of the past 50 years. You can select from the following suggestions or one that you come up with yourselves.

Possible suggestions are:

• The Space Shuttle
• Medicine
• Genetic research
• Computers
• Transportation
• Communication (for example – Cell Phone technology)
• Engineering
• Crime investigation
• Business (for example – ATMs, computer networks, office machines, etc.)

• Your newspaper article should be at least 2 full pages, in 3 column newspaper format.
• Include pictures.
• Interview some “people on the street” and include their comments in your article.
• Suggest some changes that you think should be made:
• What might our government need to do?
• What might our schools need to change to meet the demand for better trained students?
• What might we need to do to address this new threat?
• How will these changes affect our lives?

Step 1:

You will be assigned to work in a group of 3 people. You will use the worksheets described in the Public Policy Analyst worksheets to record your research. These worksheets can be found using the links below and are to be used to complete your project.

Use the following guidelines to prepare your project.

· Research the websites.

· Gather your information from the websites, your textbook, class notes, and handouts given to you in class

· Use the 5-step public policy approach

1. Identify the problem.

2. Gather your evidence for the problem.

3. Determine the cause for the problem.

4. Evaluate the policy.

5. Do a comparative analysis.

Step2:

In preparing your project, each member of your group will contribute information on the following worksheets:

1. Identify problem

2. Gather evidence

3. Determine causes

4. Evaluate the policy

5. Comparative analysis

· Discuss the background of the issue you selected.

· What policies were put in place to address the issue.

· What were the results of these policies.

Websites related to the Scientific and Technological revolution of the 20^th century.

http://www.foodfirst.org/media/opeds/2000/4-greenrev.html

Lessons about the “green revolution”.

http://www.indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm

The “green revolution” in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer

The “Mainframe” computer.

http://www.cyberstreet.com/hcs/museum/chron.htm

An interesting chronology of the computer.

http://www.hitmill.com/computers/computerhx1.html

A history of computers, futuristic computers, and the history of the Internet.

http://www.feinc.net/cs-inv-p.htm

The use of modern technology in crime investigations.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/m2k4/index1.html

The technology of space -The NASA website.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html

World’s tallest buildings.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~hnetten/tallest.html

More information on tall buildings.

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/bigdig/what.html

The “Big Dig” – (Boston). The biggest highway engineering project ever done.

Category	Not Acceptable	Needs Improvement	Satisfactory	Good	Excellent
Completion of the worksheets (understood the social problem, its causes, and public policy that arose from it)	1	2	3	4	5
Facts Used (facts based on documents, website links, other sources)	1	2	3	4	5
Completion of News article (had correct format, stated and analyzed the social problem, created and considered possible solutions, and evaluated the historical solution)	1	2	3	4	5
Oral Presentation (communicated the information clearly and enhanced with pictures and illustrations)	1	2	3	4	5

Your grade will be determined as follows:

Grade of A, you need a total of 17-20 points.

Grade of B, you need a total of 13-16 points.

Grade of C, you need a total of 9-12 points.

Grade of D, you need a total of 5-8 points.

Grade of F, is less than 5 points.

This WebQuest responds to the followings curriculum standards:

Social Studies:

2:1,2:2

The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history, and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

4:1

· Explain how societies and nations attempt to satisfy their basic needs and wants by utilizing scarce capital, natural, and human resources.

· Understand how scarcity requires people and nations to make choices that relate to costs and future considerations.

· Understand how people and nations need to respect human rights.

English Language Arts:

1:1

· Interpret and analyze information from websites in the Internet and other sources.

· Compare and synthesize information from different sources in the Internet and other textbooks.

· Speaking and Writing.

· Relate new information to prior knowledge and experience.

By working on this project, you will have learned:

(1) to evaluate the impact of the Science and Technology Revolution on our lives.

(2) to describe the role played by the use of science and technology for improving our lives and living conditions.

(3) to assess the effectiveness of various government policies in bringing about change

(4) about the history and background of the science and technology that was developed in the last 50 years of the 20^th century.