I recently came across a video, Gunpowder: A Brief Big History (H2), which offers a nice overview from the Big History perspective. Additionally, two articles by Trevor Getz—Gunpowder Empires and Introduction: Land-Based Empires—provide a thorough overview to the topic.
The history of technology is always an engaging subject in my high school classroom; I am thinking of doing a short activity related to the topic and would appreciate any ideas or suggestions.