TITLE: The Impact of Technology on Texas

TEXAS HISTORY: Technology

TEKS:

7.20 A, C

OBJECTIVE:

Discuss the impact of technology on Texas.

MATERIALS:

• Photographs like the one below that represent technology (i.e. windmills, barbed wire fences, trains)
• Worksheet Provided
• See image below

FOCUS:

Have students view an assemblage images.

DISCUSSION:

1. What evidence of technology do you find in these images?
2. How do you think that the technology shown has changed life in Texas?
3. What would your life be like if that technology did not exist?

RESEARCH ACTIVITY:

Technology has the ability to change history.

Divide students into small groups. Each group will be assigned to research an invention or new technology that played a role in history. Possible research topics include: cotton gin, barbed wire, windmill, electricity, radio, telephone, automobile, or railroads.

RESEARCH GOALS:

1. Who invented it?
2. How did the new technology affect the lives of Texans?

CULMINATING PROJECTS:

Each group will present a skit comparing life in Texas with the technology and Texas without the technology. Present to the class.

Design a poster divided into two sections that shows Texas with a specific technology and Texas without that same technology

Have students complete a Cause and Effects chart on technology (see worksheet)