Technological Advances and their impact on society

Today we were lucky enough to welcome Arjen Kamphuis to our classroom. Arjen is from the Netherlands, although he lives in Duesseldorf, and is an expert in his field of strategical thinking and future planning centred around the growth and future of technology. Arjen normally works with large companies and governments but, today, came to talk to us about the changes in technology starting 800,000 years ago to the modern day and into the future.



All of 5th grade came. A few students recorded the talk on Ipods, cameras and our special pens. A few others made notes on the computers as they listened. Most just sat and listened and watched this most interesting presentation.

This rock was the major technology 800,000 years ago. Metal was not used until around 4,000 years ago so in that time not many technological changes had taken place.

The printing press was invented in Germany in 1440 and from then on knowledge and ideas could be spread through books. Through reading and exploring ideas, further technological changes took place and eventually in 1969 humans walked on the moon. Over the last 40 years there have been great strides forward in technology; the children were shown pictures of the first computers compared to the ones they know today, as well as the first mobile telephones, compared to what they know today. Indeed much of what we thought was science fiction 20 years ago, we actually have and use today. Arjen showed the children robots (Asimo) that are used in Japan today to help elderly or sick people.

C hildren discussed life with and without technology, alone or in collaboration with others.

Sharing ideas about technology.

In the second part of his talk Arjen showed the children future technologies (some of which already have prototypes). Some of the technologies shown may well be around when the children in 5th Grade graduate from University; many of the children will have jobs that we don't yet know about. As the children get older they will need to read, research and inquire to continue to build their knowledge and understanding of the world they live in.

Do spend time with your child discussing the presentation. Some of the things they tell you will sound completely unachievable but are already possible or there are scientists working on them right now! The children were engaged throughout the whole presentation and had many questions (most of which were answered although we ran out of time!)

Best wishes for a good weekend and for an enjoyable discussion!