Healing Technologies, Necessary Technologies, and other Student Ideas from the Technology Reset Simulation
By Dan Krutka
Last week, we blogged about the Technology Quotes Activity. This week we will share another one of our “Technology Education Introductory Activities”: The Technology Reset Simulation.
My inspiration for this activity started with the dedicated work of my doctoral advisee and high school teacher Zack Seitz. Graduate students often do not receive the credit they deserve in helping to move projects forward, but this activity wouldn’t have happened if Zack was not so thorough in thoughtfully conducting research with me. I asked Zack to search social studies practitioner journals for articles that might help me better understand how social studies educators have sought to teach about technology in the past. Zack found a wide array of articles, but one seemed particularly interesting.
He found a 1981 article by Dianne Common titled, “How to Teach Teachers about Technology: A Workshop for Teachers.” The article was grounded in the idea that educators had a role to play in bringing “some measure of control to the technological revolution affecting their lives and the lives of their students” (p. 200). Teachers were tasked with creating an ideal society on another planet in the future by choosing which contemporary technologies to include or exclude. Some aspects of this simulation were outdated so I attempted to author my own simulation based on the general premise.
While there have been a lot of efforts at critiquing technology, this simulation requires students to answer a different question: What relationships do we want with which technologies? This is a question I’ve been wrestling with myself so I am genuinely interested in students’ answers. In the first version, I opened the simulation by saying, “The year is 2050. Human societies across the world have fallen into disarray due to many interconnected problems, notably climate change, violence and racism, and fascism…” I then went on to describe these crises. After doing this version and getting helpful feedback from Ryan Smits and Jacob Pleasant, I decided that the simulation might benefit from less specific direction with more open space for students to imagine futures.
Before I share the simulation, I will make the case for this activity by sharing students’ responses to it. I have run this simulation with multiple classes of undergraduate teacher candidates and 7th graders. Their answers have challenged and provoked me. For instance, one group of 7th graders blew me away by arguing that humans need “healing technologies” as part of their motto. They reasoned that if technologies had contributed to the destruction of our planet and the fracturing of our societies then we should evaluate technologies based on their ability to “heal” a broken world. I left that class asking, which technologies can help heal our societies and planet? And, which ones won’t? This is honestly one of the more generative framings I’ve heard from anyone, including scholars and professionals.
Students offered many other arguments, some of which were rather radical. For example, another 7th grade group created a motto saying we should only use technologies if we truly need them. This group was apparently inspired by the Thoreau quote from the Technology Quote Activity earlier in the class which said, “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end…” Such answers really challenge the idea that young people are “digital natives” who just want more technology so we should “meet them where they are.” Doing these activities with young people suggested that many of them were deeply concerned with the effects of technology on their lives and futures.
You can now find the full “Technology Reset Simulation” on our site, which also includes a (a) link to copy a Google doc of this simulation so you can modify or remix it, and (b) list of technology categories, explanations, and examples that can provide students ideas. I will now share the Technology Reset Simulation, but we request that you share the responses students generate in your classes. This simulation has taught us how much our students have to teach us about technology.
Technology Reset Simulation
The year is 2050. Human societies across the world are a mess. Many of the problems of the world have grown worse in the last 30 years. These problems include weather disasters, racism and other types of bigotry, inequality and loss of freedom, and confusion about what can be trusted online. Many humans are mad and sad about the future. Aliens called the Technoids sense that humans have lost their way and they have decided to try to help. These aliens have a special ability to recognize problems and ask questions to help repair harms that have been done. The Technoids have asked the government to form several groups with the best students in the world. Those students are sitting in this room right now.
The Technoids then explained to these groups that they sense one common villain is the cause of many human problems: technology. They explain that humans have always been tool-users, but at some point in history, humans lost control of their use of technologies. They believe that humans have not just used technologies, but they have been changed by them.
The Technoids believe that humans can only fix their relationships with the planet, plants, animals, and each other by starting a “reset” of humanity’s relationship with technology. The Technoids cannot provide answers. Humans must look inside, and at the world around them, to find the best path forward.
The Technoids ask humans to investigate their technology by answering the following questions:
What motto could reset how and why people use technologies and inspire a new relationship between humans and their technologies? The motto must be something that is easy to communicate to the people of Earth. The Technoids are asking for a motto that helps think about the goals and purposes for human relationships with technologies. This motto may also tell how humans will evaluate whether technologies match human values such as democracy, justice, and being environmentally friendly.
Whih 2 everyday technologies represent your motto and should be required for use by all humans? Which 2 everyday technologies don’t fit your motto and should be banned for use by humans? For each technology, analyze the trade-offs (i.e., benefits and drawbacks) and how those technologies change human lives. Provide an explanation of why each technology made your list. Because humans around the world must make these changes, identify technologies which are part of humans’ everyday lives. Do not include technologies such as nuclear weapons that are out of control of most people. You can find a list of different categories of technology on the next page to help you brainstorm.
What would you say to convince the world to follow your change? Your committee should be prepared to share your motto and share your four technology evaluations. You will have a minute to present recommendations and you may create a visual to make your case if you so choose.
The Technoids believe that humans will know which group provides the best path for the future of humanity. Changes may be hard, but humanity requires a new start. What are your recommendations?
Reference
Common, D. L. (1981). How to Teach Teachers about Technology: A Workshop for Teachers. The Social Studies, 72(5), 199-202.