The Six Strands of Technology History

Strand 1: Toffler’s Four Waves Agricultural Age Industrial Age Information Age Communication Age

Agricultural Age (Jan.1, 1700-Dec. 31, 1899) Alvin Toffler's First Wave began approximately 10,000 gathering what nature provided or failed to provide. They years ago. also started domesticating animals and herding of cattle. That time marked the end of the Old Stone Age (the Paleolithic) and the beginning of the New Stone Age or the Neolithic. This is approximately when the Agricultural Revolution started. People began clearing land and tilling the soil in order to plant crops as opposed to gathering what nature provided or failed to provide. They also started domesticating animals and herding of cattle.

Industrial Age (Jan. 1, Jan. 1,1950) Alvin Toffler's Second Wave was the Industrial Revolution. It ran for the most part from the late 18 th to the early 20 th century and brought with it mechanization as well as new production techniques such as the assembly line. During that period, the scale of manufacturing activity dramatically increased, giving rise to what we call today, mass production.

Information Age (Jan. 1, 1950-Jan ) According to Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave is generally what we refer to as the Information Age. It arose as a result of advances in computer technology and the advent of the Internet. We all have a pretty good idea of what this is about. In 1980 when he published his book, The Third Wave, computers were for the most part bulky mainframe units. Of course, the capacities, capabilities, and sizes have vastly changed since then. What used to take up an entire room now fits in your lap, if not within the palm of your hand.

Communication Age (Jan. 1,1997- Jan. 1,2050) In terms of Fourth Wave, some have followed in Toffler's footsteps and talked about a greater integration of business and society and more responsible social and environmental roles for the former in general. Others have envisioned such things as biotechnology and nanotechnology. But nothing significant has happened in those respects, at least not on the scale required to produce transformative change.

Strand 2: Technology: Key advances and innovations for each decades

Strand 3: Work: Business and corporate philosophies by decade

Strand 4: Education: Important theories of learning and instruction by decade

Strand 5: Society and culture: Events that determined the thinking of each decade

Strand 6: Other: Your choice of an area to highlight(political, economic, religious, etc.)