THRESHOLD INFORMATION CARD

One of these needs to be created for each of your thresholds and be submitted with your
museum exhibit.
Threshold (Which threshold of complexity does this source describe?)
2: Collective Learning
Source 1 (correctly referenced in Harvard Date format):
Threshold 6: Humans and Collective Learning 2013, DVD, Big History, Big
History Project, 23 September.
Notes (What evidence can I use from this source? What are the main facts, arguments, claims
this source makes about your threshold?):
-

This source claims that collective learning requires powerful brains, use of symbolic
language and an environment where interaction is common from people within a
community and the different communities themselves
- I can use this evidence as a threshold in the creation of the telephone because had we
not had collective learning, Alexander Graham Bell would not have had the
information from Michael Faraday or Johann Philipp Reis that he needed to create the
telephone
Source 2 (correctly referenced in Harvard Date format):
Collective
Learning
2016,
EduTech,
accessed
6
June
2016,
<http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Collective_learning>.
Notes (What evidence can I use from this source? What are the main facts, arguments, claims
this source makes about your threshold?):
- This source explains the concept of collective learning and how information is passed
through generations so each generation can then build on it for the next generation in
order for technologies and discoveries to move forward and become increasingly
complex.
- The iPhone was based on the concept of a mobile phone which was based on the
previous concept of a telephone. Each stage built on the previous one and was
therefore collective learning
Other Sources (add further sources and notes here, if you wish)
Ingredients & Goldilocks Conditions (What ingredients and Goldilocks conditions
contribute to this change/development in the history of your topic?)
The ingredients were Powerful brains and a use of language that can be understood. The
goldilocks conditions were communication and interaction between people and communities.
This contributed to the continuous development of the telephones throughout the generations,
going from a landline with minimal distance capability to a small pocket sized device that can
connect across the globe.
Increasing Complexity (Explain the increasing complexity of your topic in this threshold in
a paragraph of your own words.)
The increasing complexity of this threshold involves a collective pool of knowledge that can
be used by people 100 years from the information was first thought of or discovered. This
then allowed a continuous development of the concept of a telephone and also led to its
invention by allowing a use of knowledge acquired by someone previously.