An ape uses a bone to kill before tossing it into the air, where it transitions into a space station.
That’s how Stanley Kubrick conveys the history of man and technology in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s an ingenious shot, and it’s a convenient way of compressing an incompressible and, in some ways, incomprehensible amount of time and development into one iconic image. Even starting with ancient Egypt, Sumer, China, and Greece, a “brief” history of tech spanning its whole history would be impossible to fit into such a short article.
Teachers of science and science history can certainly identify, which is why you’ll want to make use of these strategies when teaching students.
Redefine Technology
For starters, ask your students what is technology? It’s a question that is at once easy to answer and deceptively difficult; better still, it is one that requires critical thinking. That’s always a good thing in a classroom setting. This can also help dispel some cultural blind spots about who has and hasn’t “invented” technology and open students’ eyes to the scientific achievements and technological innovations of different cultures at different times.
It is also vital that your students understand that technology is something that is manmade. Rocks and wood, in their natural form, are not technology whereas stone tools and wooden wheels are.
Create a Timeline and Narrative
Now that your students have a better idea of what is and isn’t technology, it’s time to start creating a sense of scope and scale. There are a few gaps along the way between bone tools and space stations and it’s your job to help your students fill in those gaps.
Provide them with handouts in which they are to fill in different types of inventions from different cultures and different eras. This can help give them an idea of the full breadth of the world of tech and how it connects to create a timeline of technological advancement.
What’s more, this can be another great way to help teach your students a fresh narrative about how technology arises and that there is more than one history where tech is concerned. Analyzing the technological progress made by the Greeks and Romans alongside their Indian and Chinese contemporaries or charting European and Arabic influence on each other’s approach to scientific thought can be hugely beneficial.
All of these methods can help you compress and teach the history of tech in a positive fashion.