Friday, September 14, 2007

A to Z Taxonomies of Science and Technology Issues

Students created the following A to Z taxonomy lists of science and technology issues that they feel they will have to deal with in their lifetimes. Each class will revisit their list near the end of the Brave New World unit to determine if Huxley, 75 years ago, was already concerned about these issues. Revisiting the list will not only allow students to evaluate to what extent Huxley can be called a futurist, but also allow students to develop these topics into Brave New World themes.

Hour 1 Issues

Abortion
Bombs
Clones
Drugs
Environment
Fossil Fuel
Global Warming
Health
Internet
Jobs
Kinetic Energy (How will things move?)
Life Forms in Space
Medical Advances
National Defense
Obesity
Population
Questioning Things
Race and Religion Impacted by Science
Solar Power
Transportation
Universe
Vaccines
Water
X-Rays
Youth Preservation
Zygotes


Hour 2 Issues

Automation
Biomedical Ethics
Cloning
Debating Issues
Evolution
Fertility
Global Warming
Heredity
Inventions
Jobs that are ever-changing
Knowledge
Land Preservation
Media
Nuclear Power and War
Oil
Population
Quantum Physics
Robots
Satellites
Travel and Transportation
Utopias (Are they possible?)
Video Games
World Wide Web
X-Rays
Youth Preservation

Hour 6

AIDS
Biomedical Ethics
Cloning
Designer Babies
Extinction
Fossil Fuels
Global Warming
Hunger
Interstellar Travel
Jobs
Kinetic Energy
Logistics of Communication
Medications
Nuclear War
Over Population
Pollution
Quantum Physics and the Existence of God
Robots
Sex
Transplants
UV Rays
Viruses
Water
X-Ray
Youth
Zoology

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it is very interesting how all three classes came up with different topics for each letter. It shows us how differently people can think. I truly wonder what people in the future will be dealing with and what people years ago thought we would be dealing with.

alexh said...

I agree. I think it just shows how many technological advances and things that we need to be careful with in the future. It shows the range of how are world has change drastically because years ago I bet they weren't worried about things like global warming.

Anonymous said...

I think that one important taxonomy is inventions. Inventions today have help mold society into what it is and what it will be.

Anonymous said...

hour 6
I also agree with Brittany on how it was interesting that all the classes came up with different issues. I thought this activity was interesting because it allowed us to think into the future, just as Huxley did in writing Brave New World. We have no idea what problems might come up as the years go on - but its great we can brainstorm like this in a literature class as a group

Anonymous said...

I agree with all the comments so far on the a to z taxonomies from all different classes. I think it is also very interesting that there is so much potential for our future, and with these words being a concern in years to come and even now, it just shows how much we need to work on in the world today.

Anonymous said...

I think it's really interesting that some classes find things more important then others. Obviously hour 6 has the best taxonomies, that's a given, but overall i guess the other two classes are pretty good too.

I still think that "your mom" and "dog fights" should have been the 'y' and 'd' words, but that's just me.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...(sorry that's JUDITH K HOUR 6)
I think it's really interesting that some classes find things more important then others. Obviously hour 6 has the best taxonomies, that's a given, but overall i guess the other two classes are pretty good too.

I still think that "your mom" and "dog fights" should have been the 'y' and 'd' words, but that's just me.

Anonymous said...

i thought it was really interesting to see that there were few ideas repeated in this from hour to hour. it shows how many things dealing with science and technology that we are going to have to deal with later on in life.

Anonymous said...

I agree. It's amazing how all three classes found so many different words to put on the taonomies. It's also cool to think about Huxley's imagination in coming up with things to put in this book when he worte it a long time ago. It will be interesting to see what other things come up in this book that caould actually be happening in the world today.

Anonymous said...

I think it is very interesting how the three classes all had very different answers, this reminds us that different topics are more intriguing to certain people! I think it is wonderful that we can look on this blog to see what the other classes thought was the most important. It is nice that we can brainstorm with our tables also. I wonder how many of our predictions will be true in the future.

Anonymous said...

caroline g. hour 1
I think that the differences in each taxonomy from class to class shows that everyone has a different way of thinking and contributing. I think it'll be really interesting to see what we come up with, as a community, in the future.

Anonymous said...

I'm really glad that we did this assignment because I think it will make us more aware of the problems dealing with science and technology that we will have to face in our future.

Anonymous said...

Wow! It's cool that all the classes had a lot in common, but my favorite was the utopia one! Good use of the letter U! I'm curious to see if Huxley with address all of these topics. I have my doubts, because it is quite a bit, but so far his creativity has atonished me!

Anonymous said...

I like how we can think in and outside of class using different tools. This is a good way to remind everyone what we learned on Friday. I agree with everyones posts, I wonder though if we wrote a book like Huxley did would our guess for the future be true, or way off.

Anonymous said...

I agree that 6th hour’s was the best, but sorry Judith I still do not think "dog fights" would be an appropriate word for this exercise. But I do think more class activities like this one could greatly benefit the understanding and exploration of a novel such as brave new world. Also I don’t think logistics of communication should be on there because your just adding logistics to a word so it will fit into the L category.

Doug L said...

All the words on these three lists are definatly huge concerns and possibilities in our "now" world. It's interesting to see that these issues seem to be the head of political debate and discussion. Don't be surprised when the better half of the words on each list are brought up as we near another Presidential election.....

Unknown said...

I thought it was interesting while reading this how each class had both different and similar ideas. It seems like cloning was the consencious for C, which i thought was also the most important one because of the adcvances and implications it has and probably will make in our society.

Anonymous said...

It was fun reading all the words that the different classes came up with. It would be interesting to see exactly how many of those would make a big impact on the world in the future.

BigMack said...

I wanted to comment about my class (hour 2) and their list. I thought one in particular was interesting and the one i am going to comment on is "Utopia (is it possible?) i emphatically think a utopian environment is not only wrong and nieve to think about..but also i think its ridiculous to strive for such an environment. Without crime...theres no cops...without any cops we have no order and they all lose their jobs...without their jobs they become homeless and the cycle starts all over again and i just felt like expressing myself on that subject

-Mack G. Hour 2 (weekend HW assignment)

Anonymous said...

I think Economy would be a better choice for the letter E because of how it relates to illegal immigration and weather illegals are taking American jobs, or jobs Americans dont want; or outsourcing

Talal said...

i also find it interesting that each class had a lot of similar ideas, maybe not word for word, but same basic concept. However, each class added their different words that makes sort of a better list if you mix all of them because then we get perspectives from each class and not just one.

Anonymous said...

Although the taxonomys are different in their own respective ways, it is easy to classify different words into the same general categories.

Anonymous said...

The above comment was from me. Puffins

Anonymous said...

Wow, all three classes came up quite a collective list of words. I'm curious to see if Huxley can really address them all. I have to say I think it was clever how hour six threw the 'Existence of God' in with Quantum Physics. And where did Hour 2's 'z' go? I like hour 1s 'Life Forms in Space' because I think it'd be ridiculously cool to find other lifeforms. The galaxy is huge--I don't want to think we have it all to ourselves.

Anonymous said...

Golly gee what an amazing list of stuff! If i lived in the future, I would be shaking in my boots or cyber boots or whatever the new style will be. I would like to look at this list in 30 years and see which issues really play a role in my life and which ones were way off.

Anonymous said...

I also think looking at the list is really interesting. I like how the three classes each had different ideas for the letters. It's cool seeing the different ideas each class had about technology.

Anonymous said...

its interesting that we all had different issues or each word with in the each class and all the classes together. i agree with emily that its crazy how we can brain storm about what will happen in the future but we will really never know until it happens

Laura said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laura said...

It was interesting to see what the other classes think will be issues in the future. It will be fun to look back in 30 or so years and see what issues play a part in my life!