Alabama Social Studies SS24.5.17
The Standard
State and defend a position regarding the benefits and drawbacks of technological advancements in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students weigh technologies that spread from the late 1900s into the 2000s, such as the internet, GPS, and smartphones. They take a position and use specific benefits and drawbacks to defend it.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can argue that phone maps make travel easier but fail when a phone battery dies. They explain why the benefit outweighs the risk, or why it does not.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think smartphones were common in the 1970s, though they became common much later. Some list pros and cons without choosing a side, or assume everyone has equal access to the internet.
How to Assess It
- Ask: Should a town replace paper maps with phone maps? State your position, give one benefit and one drawback, and explain which matters more.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a paper map and a phone map screenshot; have them plan a route and note what each makes easier or harder.
Ask, “Did the internet improve how families get news?” Have students write one gain, one cost, and a reason for their answer.
Deal cards showing video calls, online shopping, GPS, and social media; teams place each under benefit, drawback, or both and defend one choice.
Show a paper school newsletter and an email version; students list who each reaches quickly and who might miss it.
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Printable SS24.5.17 Worksheet
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