Evolving classrooms
Think of how technological innovations have altered the human educational landscape. Imagine a classroom without writing, where everything had to be remembered. Imagine writing without paper— scrolling characters with earthy pigments by the light of a fire deep inside a cave…or in a Babylonian schoolhouse, imprinting clay tablets with cuneiform scripts. Think of how the invention of an alphabet and the standardization of scripts changed education, allowed distant peoples to share their ideas. Think about how school might have been different in Plato’s Academy or Aristotle’s Lyceum with no tables or chairs. Imagine a school in which paper and books were a rare luxury.
A brilliant mathematician, Hypatia taught astronomy and philosophy in at the Neo-Platonic Academy in Alexandria Egypt in the 5th century AD
The technology of education continued to evolve into and through the middle ages. Heroes of the intellect like Thomas Aquinas, William of Occam, and Duns Scotus laid the groundwork for the modern scientific method.
A medieval university, notice how the students are sitting in relation to the teacher.
Harun Al Rashid's House of Wisdom represented the apex of ninth century educational innovation. Compare/Contrast this artist's representation with the picture above.
The application of water mill technology to the production of paper in the middle ages led to a surplus of paper for the first time in history.
This surplus directly preceded the invention of the printing press in the mid fifteenth century, which led to an explosion of knowledge and learning that directly anteceded the modern era. Like a puddle of bacteria, technology multiplied exponentially, and there appears no end in sight to the whirl of innovation.
The classic American schoolhouse remained relatively unchanged for several centuries. What pieces of technology situate this classroom with the other images we've seen? How does it compare with the classrooms of today?
While the industrial revolution led to great economic benefits, it displaced many people from their jobs and led to dramatic and painful changes to their lifeways.
The Luddites were a group of British textile workers who protested industrialization by vandalizing factories and breaking machines in the early nineteenth century. Today, "Luddite" is a synonym for anyone who fears technological advancement.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, people could only guess where these changes were leading.
An early 20th century French artist's facsimile of a 21st century classroom.
The invention of the telephone, motion pictures, airplanes, automobiles, and radio corresponded with dramatic changes to human lifeways. Electricity in virtually every home, indoor plumbing, and refrigeration made the early 20th century a period of immense optimism...and apprehension.
The idea of robots teaching children was far-fetched in the 1960s, but how does this image compare/contrast with the actual classrooms of today?
