Technology Education deserves more respect
Technology educators struggle for credibility amongst education professionals
who have not encountered REAL Technology Education. Most people think this
area is just about computers when, in fact, it is about helping kids learn
how to use math, science, and other content to figure out how humans create
the tools and products we use. Science is the study of the natural world.
Technology is the study of the human-made world.
My sixth, seventh and eighth grade students learn how to use a myriad of
tools as they design solutions to problems. We study how humans use the
science of magnetism to invent things like motors, computer disks, compasses,
MRI, etc. We study how humans understand the use of simple machines to invent
more complex machines. We study how humans have harnesed sand and sun to
make ecologically friendly electricity. Students do all this with individual
and group minds-on/hands-on activities.
The national standards
for Technology Education are on the presses and will be published this year.
States have curriculum guides that attempt to align with these and other
(mostly math and science) standards. (Also see Technological
Studies Series: Grades 6-8.)
The problem with credibility is that the Technology Education discipline
evolved out of Industrial Arts ("shop" to most people) and the
shop stigma is still attached. While many schools still only have shop,
many, many other schools have proactive Tech Ed programs that meet many
middle school student needs.
Teachers from Massachusetts came to visit our middle school today. The principal
made a point to bring them into my seventh grade class so they could see
kids engaged in learning that had them problem-solving, using math and science
to create human-made products.
For folks who want the real lowdown on Technology Education, the International
Technology Education Association site would be a good start.
Dan Queior -- Technology Education teacher
Freeport Middle School
Freeport, Maine
queior@agate.net
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Two sets of technology education standards are emerging.
The Standards for Technological
Literacy, spearheaded by ITEA and the National Research Council, address
the broad range of technology skills referred to here by Dan Queior. Another
initiative, the National Educational Technology
Standards for Students, led by the International Society for Technology
in Education, concentrate on educational computing and technology-based
instruction. Some of the issues in defining "technology education"
are discussed here.]
Some technology education
links at MiddleWeb
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