2014: The World Within

Social Studies

Worlds Within Walls

  1. Framing Questions

    • What role do walls serve in society?
    • What keeps people inside walls? What keeps people out?
    • What is the history of each of the “worlds within walls” below?
    • How do you expect these "worlds within walls" will change in the future?
    • What happens when the walls come down?

  1. Don’t Answer the Door: The Interior as Refuge

    • Houses and Homes
    • Castles and City Walls

  1. Inside the Room: Where Things Get Done

    • Schools
    • Secret Societies
    • Companies and Organizations

  1. No Exit: Behind Lock and Key

    • Prisons
    • Cults
    • Reality TV

  1. The Pantless Future: From the BBS to the MMORPG

    • Social networks
    • Online gaming
    • Virtual offices

  1. More Questions to Discuss

    • How do enclosed environments affect social dynamics?
    • Does the meaning of "home" vary from place to place, or from time to time?
    • Is collaboration always better than individual work?
    • How does the presence of an observer change a group?
    • Do students naturally split into cliques—and, if so, should educators stop them?
    • Are there ideal ways to organize groups of people?
    • Should cults be limited, regulated, outlawed, or embraced?
    • Why do secret societies exist, and why do they choose to be secret?
    • Does leadership work differently in organizations—behind the walls—than in society at large?
    • Do the world's greatest companies share characteristics with cults—and, if so, is that something to criticize or to emulate?
    • Should more organizations follow the lead of success stories like Google and Pixar and redesign their offices to encourage collaboration?
    • Can online social dynamics have real world impacts?