Office Hours: MWF, 9:30-10:30 AM

and by appointment

TEXTBOOKS:

The Axemaker’s Gift: A Double-Edgedf History of Human Culture by James Burke and Robert Ornstein

Technology and American Society: A History, Gary Cross & Rick Szostak

World History Atlas, Rand McNally (Optional)

Strongly recommend:

Out of the Fiery Furnace: The Impact of Metals on the History of Mankind by Robert Raymond [Pennsylvania State, 1986] Out of Print*

Reproduced brochures and articles will be given out in class to supplement the textbook readings. Selected videos will be shown if time is available.

*On reserve in the Library

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
  1. Three-hour exams worth 100 points each, based upon the work sheets which accompany each unit.
    1. The first test will be given the week of February 28, and will cover Units I-IV.
    2. The second hour test is scheduled the week of April 3, and will cover Units V-VII.
    3. Final Hour Test: The week of May 8, Units VIII-X.
  2. Two "take-home" assignments worth 100 points each, based upon the distributed articles, reserve books, and original research. Emphasis is placed upon the student’s creative imagination in this assignment.
    1. First "take-home" assignment due March 8.
    2. Second "take-home" assignment due April 12.
    3. Third "take home" assignment (general questions based upon the trends studied throughout the semester) due at the final hour test.
  3. Student report: each student report is worth 100 points. These reports will be presented orally to the class on April 24. Class attendance during report week is required to obtain credit for the report. Each Student should prepare one questions from his or her report that will be included on the final hour test. See Appendix I for more information about reports.
  4. Grading system: Each assignment is worth 100 points. There are 700 possible points.

    700-630 629-560 559-490 489-420
    A B C D

UNITS:

  1. Introduction
    1. Objectives of the course.
    2. Definitions: Culture, Technology, Tools, Machines, Trigger Technology, High Technology, etc.
    3. Historical research: current work in the field: Technological innovations which are revolutionizing the study of history. (See Appendix II)
    4. For discussion:
      1. Misuses of historical source material: why is this particularly detrimental for the history of technology?
      2. Science and technology – an abrasive relationship.
      3. Creativity: Innovation and elaboration – the artist, engineer, and scientist.
      4. Technology and ethics: co-operation, compromise, or conflict?
      5. Non-western technology and culture.
    5. Reading Assignments:
      1. Articles:
        1. Digging the Past
        2. Mapping the Past
        3. Seekers of the Past
        4. Begging the Questions About Technology
        5. The Fourth Revolution
        6. Tele-Tunnel Vision
        7. A Look at the Changing Mission of Libraries
        8. Beethoven’s Hair Tells All
        9. Welcome to the Internet, The First Global Colony
      2. Texts:
        1. The Axemaker’s Gift: Prologue, xiii-xvii
        2. Technology and American Society: Preface, xi-xiii
  1. The Emergence of the Human Species: the Birth of Technology, the Appearance of Culture
  2. Pre-historic classification
  3. Geological periods of earth’s history: Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene.
  4. Archeological periods: Eolithic, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron.
  5. Cultural periods: Clactonian, Abbevilian, Acheulian, Lavalloisian, Mouseterian, Gravetian, Magdalenian, and Neolithifc (reindfeerr stage).
  6. Evolution of human species:
  7. australopithicus Ramidus (4 million years old)
  8. Afarensis
  9. Africanus
  10. Robustus
  11. Boisei
  12. Homo Habilis
  13. Homo Erectus
  14. Homo Sapiens (Archaic)
  15. Homo Sapiens (Neanderthal)
  16. Homo Sapiens (Cro-Magnon)
  17. Early Civilizations- agriculture and urban living:
  18. Discoveries in the Far and Middle East; Pre-agriculturd urban societies (Palestine and Turkey); Metallurgy in farming villages (Thailand).
  19. First civilizations – Mesopotamia and Egypt.
  20. Reading Assignments:
  21. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift
  22. Chapter 1: Getting an Edge
  23. Chapter 2: Token Contribution
  24. Articles:
  25. Out of Africa: Again and Again
  26. Signs of Earliest Technology
  27. Who We Were
  28. Ice Man Yields Details of Stone-Age Transition
  29. Man’s Age Old Struggle for Energy
  30. The First Technological Revolution and Its’ Consequences
  31. A Nova Crew Strains and Chants to Solve the Obelisk Mystery
  32. Daily Life in Ancient Egypt


  33. Classical Western Civilization
  34. Greeks of Hellenic (Golden Age)
  35. Hellenistic (Silver Age): Diffusion of culture through the empires of Alexander the Great and his successors.
  36. Romans and their Empire
  37. Reading Assignments:
  38. Text; The Axemaker’s Gift:
  39. Chapter 3 – The ABC of Logic
  40. Articles:
  41. Ancient Oared Ships
  42. Ancient Catapults
  43. "The Origins of Technology,", (Scientific American), 1997. (Recommended –on reserve in the Library)
  44. Dawn of Western Technology: Preparation years (500-1400)
  45. "Dark" Ages-Byzantine, Moslem, Germanic, and Slavonic cultures.
  46. Medieval period in Western Europe
  47. Reading:
  48. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  49. Chapter 4- Faith of Power
  50. Article:
  51. Medieval Roots of the Industrial Revolution (Scientific American, 1984)

    FIRST HOUR TEST: WEEK OF FEBRUARY 27
    FIRST TAKE-HOME TEST DUE MARCH 8.
  52. The Renaissance: 1400-1600
  53. Reading:
  54. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  55. Chapter 5-Fit to Print
  56. Text: Technology and American Society:
  57. Chapter 1
  58. Article:
  59. Catching Up with Leonardo
  60. Tools of the Renaissance jeweler: A Goldsmith’s workshop in 1576






  61. The Enlightenment: 1600-1800
  62. Scientific Revolution
  63. Science of Society
  64. Technological Progress
  65. Reading:
  66. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  67. Chapter 6-New Worlds
  68. Text: Technology and American Society:
  69. Chapters 2 & 3
  70. Industrial Revolution: 1800-1900
  71. Reading:
  72. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  73. Chapter 7-Root and Branch
  74. Text: Technology and American Society:
  75. Chapter 4-9

    SECOND HOUR TEST: WEEK OF APRIL 3
    SECOND TAKE-HOME DUE APRIL 12
  76. Cultural Revolution: 1800-1900
  77. Reading:
  78. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  79. Chapter 9-Doctor’s Order
  80. Text: Technology and American Society
  81. Chapters 10-14
  82. The "Brave New World" of the Twentieth Century
  83. Reading
  84. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  85. Chapter 10-Journey’s End
  86. Text: Technology and American Society
  87. Chapters 15-19

    STUDENT REPORTS DUE APRIL 24
    REQUIRED CLASS ATTENDANCE







  88. Conclusions-Where are we, what are we doing, where are we going?
  89. Reading:
  90. Text: The Axemaker’s Gift:
  91. Chapter 11-Forward to the Past
  92. Text: Technology and American Society:
  93. Chapters 20-21
  94. Articles:
  95. The Too-Much Information Age-Washington Post, March 12, 1999
  96. The Next Big Dialectic: New York times, November 28, 1999
  97. Art Discovers the Internet: USA Today, January 10, 2000
  98. Cyberspace is Tapped to Cure Disease: USA Today, January 10, 2000
  99. Show and Tell for Microgadgets: USA Today, January 10, 2000
  100. The Web’s Search for Little Green Men: USA Today, January 10, 2000
  101. Map of Human Genes, A Private Triumph: USA Today, January 11, 2000
  102. Remote Control Home Coming to Life: USA Today, January 12, 2000
  103. A Look at the AOIL Deal: Washington Post, January 16, 2000.

    FINAL HOUR TEST: WEEK OF MAY 8
    FINAL TAKE-HOME TEST DUE AT FINAL HOUR TEST

 

 

Appendix I: Suggestions for Student Reports:
  1. Technologies which have been widely accepted. Examine the historical development of one of these, why it was accepted in terms of the economic, social, political, and cultural trends of the time. Discuss the side effects of this technology upon the people and their way of life. Evaluate the technology in terms of human development.::Examples: Nuclear energy, lasers, computers, electricity, photography, telephone. A "trigger technology such as the "spinning jenny" or the steam engine. Ancient Technologies such as the systems used to build the Pyramids or Stonehenge. Recent discoveries of made possible by modern research techniques- for example the "lost Bronze Age" at Ban Chiang, Thailand.
  2. Individual inventor, engineers, or scientists whose work has made a lasting impression on the history o technology and culture.. "Mad" geniuses, creative artists, profiteers or power-seekers?; Examples: Archimides, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Ben Franklin, Oliver Evans, Eli Whitney, Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, George Washington Carver, Lee De Forest, I.M.Pei, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford and last (but not Least) Billl Gates. Of course you are free to do any innovator who interests you.
  3. Technologies which have been revived after a period of inactivity. Examples: Windmills, Sailing Ships, Water Wheels .
  4. Effects of modern technology on non-industrial societies: Pacific Island, Africa, Central and South America, areas in Asia.
  5. Technology and the Environment: A specific disaster such as Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez, Regional Concerns: Pollution of air and water, destruction of the rain forests’, "Ecotourism" and its effect upon "unspoiled" areas like Kenya’s Wildlife preserve, Galapagos Island, Yellowstone National Park Global concerns: Destruction of the Ozone layer, depletion of energy resources, endangered species in plant and animal worlds..
  6. Bio-medical technology: Laser surgery, genetic engineering, , cloning, "wonder" Drugs.
  7. Report a visit to a current Museum exhibit related to technology or culture: Air and Space Museum; Museum of American History-Lemelson Center for study of Invention and Innovation; African Art Museum; Sackler Gallery; Renwick Gallery; National Building Museum.

 

Appendix II: Directions for Student Projects


The project involves an oral presentation concerning one exhibit at either the National Museum of American History, The National Air and Space Museum, The African Art Museum, Sackler Gallery, Renwick Gallery , or The National Building Museum.

  1. Phase One

    Decision about exhibit topic and approach, a brief written summary must be presented to the instructor, as well as an oral statement describing the topic to the class. Questions and suggestions from other students are encouraged. (Week after the first hour test – approximately the 6the week of the semester.)
  2. Phase Two

    Rough draft presented to instructor. Any problems about the project must be resolved at this point. (Week after the second hour test – approximately – 12th week)
  3. Phase Three

    Oral presentations to the class. Written summary presented to the instructor. Each student to include a short answer question based upon the theme of the project. (to be included in the final exam)

Grade based upon:

1. Creativity and originality

2. Historical accuracy: evaluation/critique of exhibit

Suggestions for content:

1. Summary of exhibit

2. Critique of exhibit: was it of value as a learning experience? Would you recommend it to other students?

3. How would you improve it or enhance it with your own display? (This part is very flexible – students are encouraged to develop an individual interpretation of the theme presented in the museum’s exhibit.)

Appendix III: Suggested Reading List and Internet Sources (Coming Soon)