What
is technology?
Definition of Technology
Technology is the application of resources to design, produce,
anduse products and services that extend human potential to improveand
control the natural and human made environment.
What
is technology education?
Definition of Technology Education
Technology education is an action based program for all studentsthat
requires students to use resources to design, produce, use,and
assess the impacts of products and services that extend humanpotential
to improve and control the natural and human madeenvironment.
Why have
technology education?
Members of society will appropriately apply knowledge in designing,selecting,
and using current and future technologies and assessing their
impacts.
Technology
Education Mission Statement
The mission of technology education is to help students learn
how to appropriately use, assess, and apply technology to effectively
make decisions and contribute to a rapidly changing technological
society.
Philosophy
of Technology Education
People are living in a rapidly changing, diverse, and synthetic
world. Society today is flooded with technology. Our daily encounters
with and dependence upon technology are almost invisible as it
takes the shape of electronic climate control systems,wireless
communication systems such as phones and pagers, automatic tellers
to dispense money, magnetically striped cards to facilitate consumer
transactions, cable and satellite television, and automobiles
and mass transit. Free trade agreements have led to globalization
of commerce and increased competitiveness in labor markets. We
listen to political and scientific debate about global warming
and the effect of our modern use of fossil fuels, nuclear weapons,
chemical warfare, and contamination of food and water supplies.
In the past several decades we have gone from space exploration
to space colonization, intelligent machines, and virtual reality
that will lead us into the next millenium. The jobs of the future
may not even exist today.
As citizens we are most familiar with the artifacts of technology,
but all citizens need to understand the systems that create them
and the impacts that result from their use. Citizens of this
technological age need adaptive skills and lifelong learning
attitudes to form a flexible workforce. People will need problem
solving skills and the ability to assess the appropriateness
and impacts of current and future technologies. The skills of
the present and the future demand thinking skills, people who
know how to learn, reason, make decisions, and apply knowledge.
In a globally diverse and densely populated society, communication
skills will be highly valued. Workers will need to work effectively
in teams requiring cooperative and management skills. As resources
become less plentiful, resource selection, conservation, and
allocation will be vital in the workplace and in the home.
All students should participate in technology education as part
of the general education curriculum. Technology education will
develop those skills and attitudes students need to be successful
in the future. Technology education programs should be articulated
from the elementary school through the high school. Programs
should be organized around the study of technological systems,
concepts, and processes. It is a program based on active learning
where students are encouraged to work independently and cooperatively,
apply design processes and efficiently use materials and resources
to solve problems in a real world context. Students will assess
the impacts of products, services, and systems on the natural
and human made environments. Technology is not a static body
of knowledge; it is dynamic and rapidly changing. Therefore,
specific aspects of technology are not drilled to mastery, but
rather applied in context to develop decision making and the
ability to apply and assess the appropriateness of technologies.
Throughout this experience students explore and apply interdisciplinary
connections to give relevance and meaning to their education
and produce lifelong learners.
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