1.2 New Technologies and Social Change
For this section assignment, you will be responding to the topic below based on the course readings. You don't have to cite the course readings. You do need to cite all sources you use from outside the course and create a bibliography.
The Topic:
Explore the ways that new technologies brought about social change in North America in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Assignment:
You should have made notes for this section of the course, and if you have not already—then now is a good time to do so. This will allow you to review the material and to make sure that you understand all of the main ideas. You will then need to narrow your topic. The topics are increased mobility, improved communications, new technology in the home, and the growing entertainment and advertising industry. Choose one of these topic areas to focus on.
You will then create an outline. This outline will include the thesis that will guide your development of the topic. Your thesis is not the topic, but your response to it. One way to think about this is to pose a question about the topic, then answer it. The answer to that question is your thesis.
Here is an example:
Topic: Explore the ways that expanded educational opportunities brought about social change in North America in the 1920s and 1930s.
Topic narrowed: Look at how high school graduation more than doubled in the decades after World War I.
Question: How did increased graduation rates lead to social change in the 1920s?
Answer (thesis): The rise in graduation rates in North America after World War I was positive overall, but it led to a rapid overturning of tradition. Young people spoke about and explored topics that their parents considered threatening or taboo which led to conflicts between generations.
If you have any questions about this process, you can contact your teacher before you do your written report.
Format
This is a written report that must also include visuals. You can choose to have graphics within your written report or put your writing and images together as a PowerPoint, slideshow, or poster. Make sure that your images add to the information in the writing. You can put taglines beneath the images explaining their importance and what is happening in the image. Other important details are stating where and what time period or year the image is from.
Make sure to provide a bibliography with the sources of your text and images.