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Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits
Introduction
Your group will be representatives of one of five inventions which came about during the turn of the century, "The Automobile", "The Airplane", "Portable Camera", "The Telephone", and "City Planning/Skyscrapers". Your group will be presenting your arguments, both for your case and against the other group’s cases, to an arbitration board who will judge the merits of your arguments to answer the question “What is the Greatest Invention of the 20th Century?”
Task
Your group will create an argument answering the question “What is the Greatest Invention of the 20th Century?” in relation to the Invention that you are assigned. Your group will also formulate positions against the four other Inventions detailed in the assignment. Your group will come up with a presentation which details your arguments based on the facts that you have learned from your online resources. Your group will present this presentation to an arbitration board consisting of Mr. Wright and Mr. Artibee, as well as the rest of your classmates.
Process
1. To accomplish this task, first, you will be assigned to groups of five.
2. Your group will be assigned one of the give inventions that you will be representing at the arbitration (The Automobile, The Airplane, Portable Camera, The Telephone, and City Planning/Skyscrapers).
3. Once these Inventions are assigned to your groups, you will individually choose which of five roles you will choose to present on.
- The first person will be presenting the main arguments for the assigned Explorer.
- The others will divide up the other four inventions and come up with arguments against them. i.e. Why should these Inventions NOT be considered the greatest of the 20th Century.
4. For each Invention, I have found links that will be helpful to you in your research. They are listed below under each Invention. Make sure that each person in your group has chosen a different Invention to present on. Also, remember to use the links around in the sites themelves. You may also attempt to find other resources using various search engines. (Google, Yahoo, etc.)
The Automobile:
Site discussing the history of enrivonmental impact of the Automobile in America. Includes resources on air and noise pollution.
Site discussing the history of the automobile.
Another History site.
Site discussing the impact of the automobile on the economy.
Site discussing the negative impact of automobiles.
The Airplane:
Wright Brothers museum site.
Comparison of Traveling by Plane, Car, and Train.
Impact of the Airplane on the environment
Portable Camera/Photography:
A history of Photojournalism.
A BBC article on the invasiveness of cameras in society.
Influence of Photography on society.
The Telephone:
A history of the telephone.
Another telephone history.
Social impact of the telephone.
City PLanning/Skyscrapers:
Rise of the Modern City.
History of City Planning.
Urban Planning
Problems with city living.
Rapid population growth in cities.
5. Once you have done your research you will need to put your presentation together.
6. You will need to have an introduction which describes which Invention you are arguing for, as well as who will be presenting which parts of the arbitration.
7. Your presentation should include arguments based on the facts presented by the web documents as well as your own conclusions based on these facts. Also, remember that you are trying to persuade the arbitration board that not only is your Invention the the most important but also that the others are not.
8. You should be sure to include a conclusion which sums up the major arguments you presented and why your invention should be considered the best.
9. Your group should work together to ensure that all parts of your presentation are equal and of good caliber.
Things to keep in mind when making your arguments:
- How did your invention come about?
- How did your invention affect the people living at the turn of the century?
- How does your invention affect peoples lives now?
- What other discoveries/progress did your invention lead to?
For those of you arguing against other Inventions, think about:
- Could people do/have done without this invention?
- Do the negative impacts of this invention outwiegh the positives?
REMEMBER:
This assignment can be approaced from a variety of ways!
When thinking of your arguments consider:
social transformations: explosions in population and increased movement between countries
economic transformations: shift from rural to urban communities and from agricultural to industrial markets
political transformations: rise of reform movements and changing expectations for governments'
environmental transformations: changing landscapes, pollutants, loss of animal habitat, and increasing noise
Evaluation
This is a group project and you will be graded as a group. Be sure that you all help each to create the best presentation possible. You will need to support all of the statements that you make with facts from the web documents. Make sure that you do not include your own opinions without being able to back them up. Please refer to the rubric below to see how I will be grading this assignment.
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