Tech. Ed. Briefs
Technology education, in its broadest definition, is the oldest discipline among all of the school subjects (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993 & Zargari & MacDonald, 1994). During the early times, "hand skills" were very important to the survival of the primitive society and contributed to the refinement of civilization (Phillips, 1985). Herschbach (1995) described technological knowledge as "arising from, and embedded in, human activity" (p.2).
Technology is a fundamental aspect of human activity. The acceleration of technological change is a constant in everyone's life today. The power and promise of technology is based on the need for technological literacy -- the ability to use, manage, and understand technology. Technological literacy is considered to be critical to the success of individuals, entire societies, and Earth's ecological balance. The promise of the future lies not in technology alone, but in people's ability to use, manage, and understand technology. (Dugger & Satchwell, 1996, p.14)
Technological literacy, as a goal of technology education is the fundamental force in the movement toward standard based instruction. Competitive business environments and a need for consumers to become more sophisticated are two very clear societal needs why technology education needs to teach technological literacy (Homan & Clark, 1996). However, technological literacy is not a new goal of the discipline today called technology education, or is it?.
Technological literacy - the ability to use, manage, and understand technology is found in Calvin M. Woodward's chapter X in Manual Training in Education, published in 1890 by Scribners and Welford (New York), pp. 125-148. The chapter is titled "The fruits of manual training in education." Woodward outlined 14 reasons or "fruits" why manual training was important and several of them speak directly toward the ability to use, manage, and understand technology -- technological literacy.
"Shopwork and drawing count equally with mathematics, science, and literature" (Woodward, 1890, p.124). The ability to use technology, "Shopwork and drawing..."(p.124) was the first reference found in Woodward's chapter. He continues to characterize that the power and intelligence derived from an ability to use technology (tools of the period) would give students a realization of independence and would help those students that may be considered low functioning, become participating citizens, and not burden the State.
The skill to manage technology can be expanded into the uses of technology to solve problems. This ability to problem solve was important to Woodward. Evidence of this can be found when Woodward spoke of the graduates of his manual training school. Woodward stated many of the businesses of St. Louis want more graduates because: "...a 'graduate',...is able to use both his head and his hands" (Woodward, 1890, p.31). Both skills are necessary in problem solving and indicative to the ability to manage technology. Are today's graduates of our school systems any different? No. The need to possess the ability to manage technology to solve problems is as important today as it was in 1890 (Dugger & Satchwell, 1996; Homan & Clark, 1996; McLaughlin, 1996; Monroe, 1995).
Finally, to the point of understanding technology, Woodward concluded that when students fully understand technology, they can combine understanding with their ability to use and their knowledge to manage to "stimulate invention" (Woodward, 1890, p.30). Today the ability to invent and to create technological advances is indisputable and "...caused our perception to view the world as growing smaller and its people closer" (McLaughlin, 1996, p.15). It is obvious that global changes have impacted the discipline of technology education, but the literature has clearly shown that technological literacy has been a purpose, outcome, or goal of technology education, industrial arts, manual arts, manual training, or simply survival since the beginning of time. Now it must be asked: will standard based instruction of technology education help produce technologically literate students?
American Association for Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford.
Dugger, Jr., W.E., & Satchwell, R.E. (1996). Technology for all Americans, A rational and structure for the study of technology. The Technology Teacher, 13-14.Herschbach, D.R. (1995). Technology as knowledge: Implications for instruction. Journal of Technology Education, 7 (1), #. [On-line]. Available: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/jte-v7n1/herschbach.jte-v7n1.html
Homan, S.R., & Clark, D.L. (1996, February). School to work and skill standards, the role of technology education. The Technology Teacher, 31-33.
McLaughlin, Jr., C.H. (1996, February). Implications of global change, technology education's role. The Technology Teacher, 14-18.
Monroe, DTE, J. (1995, March). Technology 2000, preparing for the next generation of technology education. The Technology Teacher, 3-4.
Phillips, K. (1985). A progression of technology. In Technology education: A perspective on implementation. (pp. 15-18). Reston, VA.: Internnational Technology Education Association.
Woodward, C., (1890). Manual Training in Education. New York, NY. Scribners and Welford.
Zargari, A., & MacDonald, K. (1994, May/June). A history and philosophy of technology education. The Technology Teacher, 7-11.
© Copyright 2005 Wisconsin Technology Education Association
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