Technology & Society

Understanding tools and technologies, how they change human life, and how they are designed and governed.

K–12 objective ladder

• K D10.S1.K.01 Name a tool or device people use and tell what it helps them do.
• 1 D10.S1.01.01 Name a tool people use at home or at school and tell what job it helps them do.
• 1 D10.S1.01.02 Describe one way a tool makes a task easier or faster than doing it by hand.
• 2 D10.S1.02.01 Explain that tools and machines are made by people to solve a problem, and give an example.
• 2 D10.S1.02.02 Compare an old tool and a new tool for the same job and say what changed.
• 3 D10.S1.03.01 Name a simple machine, such as a lever, wheel, or ramp, and tell how it makes a job easier.
• 3 D10.S1.03.02 Describe how one tool or machine changed the way a job was done long ago compared with today.
• 4 D10.S1.04.01 Explain what it means to design a tool (making something to meet a need) and describe one step in designing.
• 4 D10.S1.04.02 Compare two tools for the same job and say which works better and why for a given person or situation.
• 5 D10.S1.05.01 Explain how a technology people use every day, such as a phone or a water pump, has changed daily life over time.
• 5 D10.S1.05.02 Compare how people in two different places in the world use a similar technology differently, and suggest why.
• 6 D10.S1.06.01 Explain that technologies are designed by people with particular needs, wants, and values, and give an example.
• 6 D10.S1.06.02 Analyze who gets to use a technology and who does not, and why that matters for fairness.
• 7 D10.S1.07.01 Trace how one technology spread across the world and changed the societies that adopted it, using a non-Western example where possible.
• 7 D10.S1.07.02 Explain the difference between an intended effect and an unintended effect of a technology, with an example of each.
• 8 D10.S1.08.01 Analyze the benefits and harms of a technology for different groups of people, and weigh them.
• 8 D10.S1.08.02 Explain how design decisions involve trade-offs among cost, safety, access, and the environment, using a real example.
• 9 D10.S1.09.01 Explain how software and algorithms, such as recommendations and feeds, shape what people see and choose, and their effect.
• 9 D10.S1.09.02 Analyze who controls a digital platform and what power that control gives them over users.
• 10 D10.S1.10.01 Analyze how data, surveillance, and automation affect privacy, freedom, and who has power in a society.
• 10 D10.S1.10.02 Evaluate an emerging technology, such as AI or genetic tools, by weighing its promises and risks for humanity and the environment.
• 11 D10.S1.11.01 Analyze how technologies are governed — by law, standards, and markets — and evaluate a debate over regulating one.
• 11 D10.S1.11.02 Analyze how the benefits and harms of technology are distributed unevenly across the world, and argue for fairer access.
• 12 D10.S1.12.01 Analyze technology as a system shaping society, weighing design, governance, and their own choices, and argue for a humane direction.
• 12 D10.S1.12.02 Reflect on their own relationship with technology — what it gives and what it costs — and how they will use it as a steward rather than a consumer.

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