Technology, Media & the Living Earth
Objectives
- D10.S1.11.01 Analyze how technologies are governed — by law, standards, and markets — and evaluate a debate over regulating one.
- D10.S1.11.02 Analyze how the benefits and harms of technology are distributed unevenly across the world, and argue for fairer access.
- D10.S2.11.01 Analyze propaganda and information manipulation in a historical or current case, and how a free press and literacy resist it.
- D10.S2.11.02 Evaluate the responsibilities of creators and platforms when information spreads harm, and argue for what should change.
- D10.S3.11.01 Trace a global cycle (carbon, nitrogen, or water) through its parts and explain how human activity has altered it.
- D10.S3.11.02 Explain the idea of the more-than-human world and why some traditions treat land, water, and other species as beings owed care.
- D10.S4.11.01 Analyze global environmental policy, such as a climate agreement, and the coordination and justice questions it raises.
- D10.S4.11.02 Compare indigenous and other place-based stewardship practices with industrial resource use, and what each teaches about sustainability.
Essential questions
- How are technologies governed, and how are their benefits and harms distributed unevenly across the world?
- How do propaganda and information manipulation work, and what are the responsibilities of creators and platforms when information spreads harm?
- How do global cycles and the more-than-human world teach stewardship, and what do indigenous and place-based practices teach sustainability?
Big ideas
- Technologies are governed by law, standards, and markets, and their benefits and harms are distributed unevenly, raising questions of fair access.
- Propaganda and information manipulation are resisted by a free press and literacy, and creators and platforms bear responsibility for harm that spreads.
- Global cycles such as carbon, nitrogen, and water connect everything; the more-than-human world and place-based stewardship teach sustainability and care.
Lessons
- 1 Who Decides the Rules for Technology? 55 minutes
- 2 The Debate Over Regulating a Technology 55 minutes
- 3 Who Benefits, Who Is Harmed? 55 minutes
- 4 Arguing for Fairer Access 55 minutes
- 5 How Propaganda Works 55 minutes
- 6 A Free Press and Literacy 55 minutes
- 7 When Information Spreads Harm 55 minutes
- 8 Arguing for What Should Change 55 minutes
- 9 The Carbon Cycle 55 minutes
- 10 The Water Cycle 55 minutes
- 11 The Nitrogen Cycle 55 minutes
- 12 The More-Than-Human World 55 minutes
- 13 Governing the Climate 55 minutes
- 14 Two Ways of Caring for Land 55 minutes
Assessment plan
A technology-governance analysis with a regulation-debate evaluation; an unequal-distribution-of-technology argument for fairer access; a propaganda case analysis with a free-press and literacy response; a creator-and-platform responsibility evaluation; a global-cycle tracing with human-alteration explanation; a more-than-human-world explanation; a global environmental policy analysis with coordination-and-justice reasoning; and an indigenous-and-place-based stewardship comparison, gathered as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 11 — Technology, Media & the Living Earth
Overview
This unit gathers the outward year into governance, solidarity, and stewardship — neither worship nor fear — building on Grade 10’s data, surveillance, media ownership, and sustainability work. Learners analyze how technologies are governed — by law, standards, and markets — and evaluate a debate over regulating one, and analyze how the benefits and harms of technology are distributed unevenly across the world, arguing for fairer access. They analyze propaganda and information manipulation in a historical or current case, and how a free press and literacy resist it, and evaluate the responsibilities of creators and platforms when information spreads harm, arguing for what should change. They trace a global cycle — carbon, nitrogen, or water — through its parts and explain how human activity has altered it, and explain the idea of the more-than-human world and why some traditions treat land, water, and other species as beings owed care. They analyze global environmental policy, such as a climate agreement, and the coordination and justice questions it raises, and compare indigenous and other place-based stewardship practices with industrial resource use, and what each teaches about sustainability.
Essential questions
- How are technologies governed, and how are their benefits and harms distributed unevenly across the world?
- How do propaganda and information manipulation work, and what are the responsibilities of creators and platforms when information spreads harm?
- How do global cycles and the more-than-human world teach stewardship, and what do indigenous and place-based practices teach sustainability?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who Decides the Rules for Technology? | D10.S1.11.01 |
| 2 | The Debate Over Regulating a Technology | D10.S1.11.01 |
| 3 | Who Benefits, Who Is Harmed? | D10.S1.11.02 |
| 4 | Arguing for Fairer Access | D10.S1.11.02 |
| 5 | How Propaganda Works | D10.S2.11.01 |
| 6 | A Free Press and Literacy | D10.S2.11.01 |
| 7 | When Information Spreads Harm | D10.S2.11.02 |
| 8 | Arguing for What Should Change | D10.S2.11.02 |
| 9 | The Carbon Cycle | D10.S3.11.01 |
| 10 | The Water Cycle | D10.S3.11.01 |
| 11 | The Nitrogen Cycle | D10.S3.11.01 |
| 12 | The More-Than-Human World | D10.S3.11.02 |
| 13 | Governing the Climate | D10.S4.11.01 |
| 14 | Two Ways of Caring for Land | D10.S4.11.02 |