Technology, Media & Our Earth Home
Objectives
- D10.S1.09.01 Explain how software and algorithms, such as recommendations and feeds, shape what people see and choose, and their effect.
- D10.S1.09.02 Analyze who controls a digital platform and what power that control gives them over users.
- D10.S2.09.01 Explain how algorithmic feeds and "echo chambers" can narrow what people see, and name a way to break out of them.
- D10.S2.09.02 Evaluate a viral claim by tracing it to its source and checking it against independent reporting.
- D10.S3.09.01 Explain the greenhouse effect and how the carbon cycle connects living things, oceans, atmosphere, and rock over time.
- D10.S3.09.02 Explain what a feedback loop is and give one example of how warming can speed up more warming.
- D10.S4.09.01 Compare fossil fuels and renewable energy sources in how they work, their limits, and their effects on people and the planet.
- D10.S4.09.02 Analyze how the burdens and benefits of environmental change fall unevenly on different people (environmental justice).
Essential questions
- How do algorithms and platforms shape what I see and choose, and who controls them and what power does that control give them?
- How do echo chambers narrow what I see and how do I break out of them, and how do I trace a viral claim to its source?
- How does the carbon cycle connect living things, oceans, atmosphere, and rock, and how do feedback loops, energy choices, and environmental justice shape our future?
Big ideas
- Algorithms and platforms shape attention and choice, and understanding who controls them reveals how power works online.
- Breaking out of echo chambers and tracing claims to their source are the habits of a free, well-informed mind.
- The greenhouse effect and carbon cycle connect all of Earth's systems, and energy choices and environmental justice decide who bears change's burdens and benefits.
Lessons
- 1 Technology, Media & Our Earth Home: The Road Ahead 50 minutes
- 2 Algorithms & Feeds: How Software Shapes What We See and Choose 50 minutes
- 3 Who Controls the Platform? Power Over Users 50 minutes
- 4 Echo Chambers: How Feeds Narrow Us — and How to Break Out 50 minutes
- 5 Trace It to Its Source: Evaluating a Viral Claim 55 minutes
- 6 The Greenhouse Effect: Earth's Warm Blanket 50 minutes
- 7 The Carbon Cycle: Life, Ocean, Air, and Rock 50 minutes
- 8 Feedback Loops: When Warming Speeds Up Warming 50 minutes
- 9 Fossil Fuels vs. Renewables: How They Work, Their Limits, Their Effects 50 minutes
- 10 Environmental Justice: Who Bears the Burden, Who Reaps the Benefit 55 minutes
Assessment plan
An algorithms-and-platform power analysis, an echo-chamber and break-out-of-it reflection, a viral-claim source-tracing exercise, a greenhouse effect and carbon-cycle explanation, a feedback-loop example, a fossil-fuels-versus- renewables comparison, and an environmental-justice analysis as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 13 — Technology, Media & Our Earth Home
Overview
This unit gathers the outward year into critical judgment and stewardship — neither worship nor fear — building on Grade 8’s framed images, deepfakes, and ecosystem resilience toward algorithmic and ecological systems thinking. Learners explain how software and algorithms, such as recommendations and feeds, shape what people see and choose, and analyze who controls a digital platform and what power that control gives them over users. They explain how algorithmic feeds and echo chambers can narrow what people see and how to break out of them, and evaluate a viral claim by tracing it to its source and checking it against independent reporting. They explain the greenhouse effect and how the carbon cycle connects living things, oceans, atmosphere, and rock over time, explain what a feedback loop is and how warming can speed up more warming, compare fossil fuels and renewable energy sources in how they work, their limits, and their effects on people and the planet, and analyze how the burdens and benefits of environmental change fall unevenly on different people — environmental justice.
Essential questions
- How do algorithms and platforms shape what I see and choose, and who controls them and what power does that control give them?
- How do echo chambers narrow what I see and how do I break out of them, and how do I trace a viral claim to its source?
- How does the carbon cycle connect living things, oceans, atmosphere, and rock, and how do feedback loops, energy choices, and environmental justice shape our future?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Technology, Media & Our Earth Home: The Road Ahead | D10.S1.09.01 |
| 2 | Algorithms & Feeds: How Software Shapes What We See and Choose | D10.S1.09.01 |
| 3 | Who Controls the Platform? Power Over Users | D10.S1.09.02 |
| 4 | Echo Chambers: How Feeds Narrow Us — and How to Break Out | D10.S2.09.01 |
| 5 | Trace It to Its Source: Evaluating a Viral Claim | D10.S2.09.02 |
| 6 | The Greenhouse Effect: Earth’s Warm Blanket | D10.S3.09.01 |
| 7 | The Carbon Cycle: Life, Ocean, Air, and Rock | D10.S3.09.01 |
| 8 | Feedback Loops: When Warming Speeds Up Warming | D10.S3.09.02 |
| 9 | Fossil Fuels vs. Renewables: How They Work, Their Limits, Their Effects | D10.S4.09.01 |
| 10 | Environmental Justice: Who Bears the Burden, Who Reaps the Benefit | D10.S4.09.02 |