Innovation in History (mini-unit): Day One of Semester Two (Lab)

To be successful in college and many careers, you’ll need to be creative, innovative, empathetic, and a leader. You’ll want to be a “boundary crosser,” someone who is flexible enough to work with people in multiple fields of study/departments (Daniel Pink’s book A Whole New Mind). In semester two of American Studies, you’ll have opportunities to be innovative, creative, empathetic, and a leader. You will investigate content and, in most units, practice applying various skills consistent with top-notch historians, but also active citizens and workers. You, in a sense, will be creating your own supplements to the textbook and teacher resources you receive in class. In the end, the hope is you feel empowered walking out of this class.

To set the tone for the semester, we are going to start with a short mini-unit on innovation. We’ve addressed some innovativeness in the 1850s to 1900 already (Whitney-Cotton Gin, Edison-multiple inventions, Bell-telephone, Otis-Elevator, Carnegie-Vertical integration, Goodyear-Vulcanized Rubber, Sears-Mail order catalogue, Roebling-Brooklyn Bridge, Chase-refrigerated railroad car, etc). Let’s take another look.

A) Take Bill Collar’s Leadership self-test and show the teacher your score. http://www.billcollar.com/docs21603/LeadershipPotential.pdf B) Pick one area of leadership you’d like to work on this semester. (Put the self test in your folder and don’t lose it. We look at it at the end of the semester)

Skill:

Name three specific actions you can do to increase your skill in this area. One of the three has to be an action you will do in the next week. Circle this action.

1)

2)

3)

Now, let’s look at the Top Ten Life Changing Inventions of All Time website (http://top- 10-list.org/2009/08/27/life-changing-inventions/) and the Most Important Inventions of All Time list (http://www.i-dineout.com/pages2003/inventions1.html). Evaluate the first list. (Evaluate=good parts, bad parts) What would you change or add?

Your analysis of the items they picked and what you’d change or add: Innovation: Profiles in Engineering

Over the course of the semester, we will look at many people who were innovators. Often, one can identify templates for success and skills needed to be innovative when studying other people’s lives. (Cause and Effect)

1) Take the Profiles in Engineering Pre-Test in the packet provided. Your teacher will go over the answers in 5 minutes. 2) Go into the “M Drive” under students and read the Powerpoint titled “Profiles of Historical Engineers.” You should complete the guide sheet as you work on this. This Powerpoint is always available on the M Drive to look at after class. 3) Take the post-test on “Profiles of Historical Engineers” and show your teacher. It will be your job to prepare to answer the short quiz on Moodle on the Profiles of Historical Engineers. You will need to take the quiz in Moodle by this date ______. Moodle allows you to re-take it once (but they average the two scores). Your scores are sent to STEM Academy, a national academy promoting science, technology, and engineering and our school is measured by your success so take your time going over the Power point before taking the quiz. 4) Answer the Reflection question on the Moodle website (5 points) (Who do you think was the most influential engineer discussed and why?) 5) Make one Powerpoint slide that covers one of the following

•People that helped shape engineering over time •Major accomplishments in engineering (e.g., projects, inventions, discoveries) •Milestones in the development of engineering as a profession and field of study •Impacts of engineering on the development of technology and society

Put it on your H drive with an Engineering Related Title by this date ______

OR Create a timeline (the assignment descriptor is on the Moodle site). Put it in your H drive under this title: History of Engineering by this date ______. Realize, we will be starting our Great Depression unit in class as you complete STEPS 4 and 5 out of class.

How innovation and/or leadership fit into the semester for YOU

The following are units for Mr. Grimm’s American Studies Two. This doesn’t reflect the many individual teacher directed components and content based lessons, but merely the general unit and where “leadership” and “innovation” focus may occur.

Mini-Unit: Leadership skills pre-test (Bill Collar), Innovation in History

Unit One: The Great Depression and the New Deal *start training on oral history project (speaking, writing, interpersonal skills)

Unit Two: World War Two *training for oral history complete, have month and half to interview

Unit Three: 1950s and the Cold War *Cold War/1950s choice project (peer teaching skills)

Unit Four: 1960s and Vietnam *1960s journal (writing skills) *Point/Counterpoint and/or Lt. Calley Trial role play (performance skills) *Hypothetical Vietnam Memorial “company” project (interpersonal, CAD/design, multi-media, and speaking skills) OR Vietnam Theme Digital Story (interpersonal, multi-media skills)

*Oral History graded, training on writing a narrative and telling a story about interviewee, narratives and storytelling due (writing and speaking skills)

Unit Five: The 1970’s *70s’s choice project (Peer teaching skills)

Unit Six: The 1980s and 1990s

Leadership skills post-test and Great Leader speech (Bill Collar’s culminating activity showing applications of leadership) (speaking skills)

Final Exam (content and skills)